May 2006 Archives

When I need God the most, He provides just the right words to see me through ...

Be merciful to me, O God, for men hotly pursue me;
   all day long they press their attack.

My slanderers pursue me all day long;
   many are attacking me in their pride.

When I am afraid,
   I will trust in you.

In God, whose word I praise,
   in God I trust; I will not be afraid.
   What can mortal man do to me?

All day long they twist my words;
   they are always plotting to harm me.

They conspire, they lurk,
   they watch my steps,
   eager to take my life.

On no account let them escape;
   in your anger, O God, bring down the nations.

Record my lament;
   list my tears on your scroll
   are they not in your record?

Then my enemies will turn back
   when I call for help.
   By this I will know that God is for me.

In God, whose word I praise,
   in the LORD, whose word I praise-

in God I trust; I will not be afraid.
   What can man do to me?

I am under vows to you, O God;
   I will present my thank offerings to you.

For you have delivered me from death
   and my feet from stumbling,
   that I may walk before God
   in the light of life. - Psalm 56

Read your Bible. It fits every season of your life.

You know it is really messed up when your life is upside down and you are really going thru something ... but you don't even feel comfortable blogging about it. Why have a blog if you don't feel comfortable sharing your life on it? And, why do other bloggers have to be such buttwipes that you don't feel comfortable writing about really important stuff because of how they behave?

*sigh*

I just wanted to pop in and let everyone know that I am still here. Right now, I am not spending much time on my computer at all. Unfortunately, that cannot be helped. Things are really intense right now and I am more than a bit overwhelmed. I just don't have time to maintain my blog right now.

Thanks to all of you who have written and sent IMs. I am reading them when I do come on and I appreciate them a lot. :)

The final episode of Will & Grace is on.

Here lately I always seem to be asking for you to pray for someone in my family and this time is no different. My kids and I really need your prayers right now. Something has happened that I am not comfortable talking about here on my blog, but it is serious and very time consuming. I apologize for my continued absence and just ask that you please pray for us during this difficult time.

Thank you.

Today, my breakfast was made for me by my middle daughter. She actually cooked breakfast for everyone and did a wonderful job. I got a card, a poem, an ankle bracelet, Books of the Bible cue cards, a new notebook and pen, a bracelet, I got to sleep until I woke up naturally, and they washed the dogs.

Not bad, eh? :)

Happy Mother's Day, ladies! I hope you have as good of one as I am. Not only did I get all these great presents, but I am also cooking one of my favorite meals today. We are having pork chops, fried cabbage, and black-eyed peas w/onions. It is going to be delicious and I cannot wait! And, I can actually smell the food now. I am still a bit under the weather, but I am feeling a bit better than I did. That is a present unto itself.

Addendum: Oh, and I cannot forget! Go say happy birthday to my sister dear, who turned 32 years old today! :)

Well, I went to the doctor today and I have a sinus infection and bronchitis. I have been sick for almost a week and a half now and I am pooped. My doctor prescribed me an antibiotic and ordered plenty of rest, so I am off to get in a nap before my kids get home.

I will be back soon. In the meantime, please pray for my family. You would not believe the lies, drama, and such that we have been dealing with. It is really just too much. I am just floored by what all has been going on. Totally floored. Especially, in regards to all the lies. It is just amazing what people will tell themselves to justify bad behavior and just how bad some people will act.

Today is my husband's birthday so we are getting ready to grill out. I have fixed him his favorite Pineapple Upside-Down Cake. I know he is going to love that. :) Homemade baked beans are in the oven. Pasta salad is chilling in the fridge. And, I am about to start the grill ... where two racks of ribs, polish sausage, bratwurst, chicken, and hot dogs will be cooked to grilled perfection. Yum!

I am off to grill. :)

Update 05/10/06: Last night went really great. The food was delicious. Everyone loved it so much that a couple of people decided we needed even more and so they went and got two more racks of ribs and another package of polish sausage. Family and friends were in attendance and LM loved all of his presents. It made for a wonderful 40th birthday ... even if he was busy telling everyone he was really 28! LOL!!!

I couldn't agree with this more nor could I have said it better myself ...

First of all, as Christians, we are to care about the poor, widows, orphans, strangers, and that means aliens in our land. That's explicitly commanded in God's Word. Leviticus 19:33-34 is a good example. It says, "When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born."

That settles the question of how we personally, as Christians, and how the Church at-large treats illegal aliens in our midst. But what about the other question of their legal status in the country? Those are two different things.

The Bible has something here to say as well. It states that government's job is to preserve order and do justice. St. Augustine famously said that peace flows from order. As a former attorney general, I can tell you that enforcing the rule of law is very important to order and peace.

Congress needs to provide the resources for proper immigration control and establish a program that enables us to process those who have earned the legal right to stay as citizens. In the meantime, we must abide by the law. If thirty years of prison ministry have taught us anything, it's that we can't cave in to those who take the law into their own hands. Such disrespect for the law sets a terrible example to everyone. We have to look at what the law says and enforce it.

The hard truth is, if people come here illegally, they cannot be granted amnesty. That simply encourages millions more to cross our borders. Of course, securing the borders is vital to national security. It's also important that immigrants come here, but through an orderly, established legal process. And employers cannot be allowed to continue to ignore the law against hiring illegal aliens. If we do not enforce the law, we are teaching millions a terrible lesson. We are telling them the law does not matter.

Read it all here.

A commenter left a link to the news that Andrea Clark has passed away. Her family was by her side and had this to say ...

Andrea passed away peacefully a little before 3pm today, with her family and her friends at her bedside. We love her so very much and we are going to miss her terribly. We hope that the battle that we fought for our sister will bring to light and bear witness to the horrible acts committed in the name of ethics in hospitals across the state of Texas.

Click here to read the rest. It is powerful and speaks volumes.

Related:

• Murdering Andrea Clark

I know I haven't been blogging much of late. For some reason I have a cold that just won't kick and it seems to have decided to take up residence in my lungs. I have also been dealing with some family issues that are upsetting me a lot. I would like to ask for everyone to please pray for someone who is very close to me. After seven years of marriage, he has decided that he wants to destroy his family. He is having an affair and has told his wife that he wants a divorce. Children are involved and the family is dealing with a lot of stress, drama, and upheaval.

I am very sad and upset myself. I just never thought he would do this kind of thing and I am very disappointed in him. I also worry about what this means for him and his family ... whom I love very much. It is obvious that he does not care that what he is doing is wrong or who he is hurting in the process. He is lying to everyone around him, including himself. I pray that he will see the errors of his ways, repent, reconcile with his wife, and seek God's guidance in his life. I pray that his children will not decide that this kind of behavior is "right" or "good" or something they should emulate. I also pray that God will ease his wife's pain and humiliation. They weren't a perfect couple and both of them have their faults, but with God's help they could work out their problems.

I know that I sin. I sin a lot. But, I also know that it is my responsibility as a follower of Christ to strive not to sin. I am not supposed to rejoice in my sin or wallow in it. I am not supposed to take umbrage of the sins of one person and totally excuse the sins of another because I like one person better than I do the other or for whatever reason I decide to come up with. I am not supposed to be happy because of my sin or that of someone else. I am supposed to grieve. I am supposed to pray. I am supposed to try and help. I am not supposed to excuse it.

And, I am surely not supposed to buy into the lie that God has anything to do with my sin or the sin of someone else. God does not sin. God does not want us to sin. Sin is not in God's plan for our life. That is the lie Satan tells us so we will excuse our own sin and continue to do it. That is the lie that we make our own and tell ourselves to excuse our own sinful behavior.

It is like the spouse who has an affair and falls in love. They tell themselves that they are justified in seeking love, comfort, sex, companionship elsewhere. It is not their fault. It is their wife's fault. It is their husband's fault. They weren't looking to have an affair. It just happened. They were just looking for understanding, friendship, someone who gets them. And, as their affair progresses they tell themselves it is God's plan for them. God brought them together! God wanted them to meet that person and fall in love because God wants them to be happy and God knew they had made a mistake when they married their spouse in the first place. They lie to themselves to justify their sin.

We all lie to ourselves to justify our own sin and self-righteousness. But, how are we supposed to deal with that and the sins of those close to us? Are we supposed to ignore it? Are we supposed to be happy if the outcome is something we want? Are we supposed to get angry? Are we supposed to disown them?

I know this much, it is not my place to condemn anyone for their sin or think that I am somehow better than anyone else either. I know that I am not supposed to disown those that I love or be happy because of their sin. I also know that I am not supposed to ignore the sin around me and some amount of anger is justified. I also know that I am to pray and goodness knows I have been praying a lot. I also know that I am to feel some amount of pain and I am not to rejoice.

Then it all comes back to prayer. And, more prayer. God has the power and the ability to heal us all. He has the power to change lives, families, and people. I just pray. All I can do is pray.

If you are like most people, Christians included, you have wondered about The Da Vinci Code and where Dan Brown gets his "facts." A lot of people have even bought into the story, believing the "facts" Dan Brown uses to spin his story of intrigue and ancient mystery. But, just how accurate are those "facts" Dan Brown speaks of? Well, look no more! James L. Garlow has written the book that will clear up all those pesky misconceptions.

The Da Vinci Codebreaker is an easy-to-use fact checker that covers all the terms, jargon, locations, and people used in The Da Vinci Code. If you want to know who Isis was and who was her lover, it's covered. If you want to know what the Dialogue of the Savior is, it's in there. From who Richard Abanes was to what is the zodiac ... James Garlow spells it out without fictional spin or mysterious code. All you get is the facts, pure and simple.

I found this book to be extremely valuable. While it started out as an intention to include a glossary in his previously published book, Cracking Da Vinci's Code, time constraints prevented that. I think that was a good thing. This book really should stand alone as the resource it is. Whatever book you read, whether it is The Da Vinci Code or any of the numerous books written as a result, keep this book handy. It will be the book you will come to again and again.

- The Da Vinci Codebreaker by James L. Garlow was sent to me as a gift by Active Christian Media. I was not paid for this review.

And, unfortunately for me, I have a bad one. I think it may even be a sinus infection. I don't feel good at all and haven't for a few days. Please pardon my absense while I lay here and die.

Thank you.