Monday, May 28, 2007
Friday, May 25, 2007
Thursday, May 24, 2007
At the Park
The little boy on the left is my boy's friend from preschool, whom we bumped into at the park entirely by accident.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Dare you not to be moved
"Peace"
A bit political, but I promise it will be worth it. Five minutes & maybe a Kleenex.
Try not to get goosebumps and/or teary eyes.
Esther Sparks of New Orleans wrote this.
I too hate war.
When it rains...
....it pours.
I was in a car accident this morning, and it was my fault. The front end of my car is smashed up pretty bad, as I rear-ended a van. I haven't found out how much it will be to fix it but I'm sure it won't be cheap.
Some blessings:
1) I was not hurt, at least I can't feel it right now. Adrenaline maybe, but I think I'm fine.
2) The passengers in the other car were very nice and only one had a very minor injury.
3) I have good insurance.
4) My child was not in the car with me (HUGE blessing).
5) I know there are people praying.
I was in a car accident this morning, and it was my fault. The front end of my car is smashed up pretty bad, as I rear-ended a van. I haven't found out how much it will be to fix it but I'm sure it won't be cheap.
Some blessings:
1) I was not hurt, at least I can't feel it right now. Adrenaline maybe, but I think I'm fine.
2) The passengers in the other car were very nice and only one had a very minor injury.
3) I have good insurance.
4) My child was not in the car with me (HUGE blessing).
5) I know there are people praying.
Sound bites
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of America and to 'public which it stands. One nation unner God, ivivibull with liberty and justice for all. Good job."
(me)"Son, are you ready for school?"
(him) "Nope. Stay at home today."
"Need to leave on the boots for nap." (I didn't fight him on this one.)
(upon awakening from nap, a little frightened & crying "Hombre necio cayó la casa en la tormenta?!"
*explanation on this last one: one of his favorite videos is a collection of Spanish Sunday School cartoons accompanied by songs; one of them is the song about the wise man (el hombre sabio) & the foolish man (el hombre necio). The above, loosely translated means, "The foolish man's house fell down in the storm?!" (you know the song, "the wise man built his house upon the rock.....")
(me)"Son, are you ready for school?"
(him) "Nope. Stay at home today."
"Need to leave on the boots for nap." (I didn't fight him on this one.)
(upon awakening from nap, a little frightened & crying "Hombre necio cayó la casa en la tormenta?!"
*explanation on this last one: one of his favorite videos is a collection of Spanish Sunday School cartoons accompanied by songs; one of them is the song about the wise man (el hombre sabio) & the foolish man (el hombre necio). The above, loosely translated means, "The foolish man's house fell down in the storm?!" (you know the song, "the wise man built his house upon the rock.....")
Accent
| What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio. | |
| The South | |
| Philadelphia | |
| The Inland North | |
| The West | |
| The Northeast | |
| Boston | |
| North Central | |
| http://www.gotoquiz.com/what_american_accent_do_you_have">What American accent do you have? http://www.gotoquiz.com/">Quiz Created on GoToQuiz | |
...which I think is funny, because I think I have a fairly thick Southern accent. I will try to get Hubs to do this & see what it comes out to be...teehee.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Letter to American Family Radio
This is a copy of a letter that I will soon be sending to AFR after hearing several months' worth of anti-immigrant and anti-Hispanic rhetoric from a station that calls itself Christian. Within the text is what became the last straw for me, a statement that "immigration is not good for family values." *begins breathing fire*
Comments welcome, of course.
American Family Radio
Post Office Box 3206
Tupelo, MS 38803
Dear Sir or Madam:
I am a Bible-believing, born-again Christian and have been a listener to AFR for several years now. My family and I enjoy most of your programming, as it is difficult at best to find programming that does not include foul language or other vulgarities.
However, I have been disturbed, alarmed, and frankly, displeased at the decidedly anti-immigration slant. Specifically, your broadcasts have been anti-Hispanic immigrant. During “News to the Hour” on April 26, 2007, your broadcaster stated that “immigration is not good for family values” quoting a statistic that 42% of babies born to Hispanic immigrants in this country are born out of wedlock, I am supposing to back up that statement.
I have a few questions about that statistic. First, you quote a percentage in the 30’s as the percent of American-citizen couples that give birth to babies without being married. Is there a statistical margin of error? I am guessing not. Either way, there is not a wide enough difference between the two numbers to imply that Hispanics are the reason for this country’s moral decline.
Second, why does the number include only Hispanics? The whole news blurb smacked of racial bias to my ears. Are these not people for whom Christ died? Does He not love Hispanics as much as he loves any other people group? Why, then, are we quoting statistics like these that would cause listeners to look down upon them? A 42% rate of out-of-wedlock births is not an indication to look down on any group of people, nor to clamp down on immigration to this country. It is, however, an indication to reach out to these people with the good news of Jesus Christ. Have we been saved so long that we have forgotten that others are still lost? What should we expect from sinners other than sin?
I am not condoning extramarital sex, nor having babies out of wedlock. I believe both are wrong, but are they more wrong when they occur among Hispanics than when they occur among white Anglo-Saxons? God doesn’t think so and I don’t either. Sin is sin, regardless of whose sin it is.
Leviticus 19:33-34 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. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt.” Notice the text does not ask us to check whether that alien is here in a legal manner. The argument can be made that illegal immigration is against the laws of this country and lawbreakers should be punished. If carrying a Bible were to become illegal in this country, I daresay Christians would (or should) continue to carry them and become lawbreakers as well. Does the fact that something is legal make it okay? Is the fact that something is illegal make it wrong? Christ broke all sorts of laws when He healed the crippled woman on the Sabbath in Luke 13. (As a footnote, anyone who has ever driven above the speed limit is a lawbreaker as much as any illegal immigrant. Break one law, you’ve broken them all. Isn’t that what the Bible teaches?)
In closing, I want to ask anyone who has such a beef with illegal immigration a question: Do you personally know any illegal immigrants? I am not asking if you’ve seen any. I am asking if you have befriended a person here illegally, had supper at their house, invited them to supper at yours, if you have talked with that person and heard their story. I have had the privilege to meet and talk with many. While there are criminals in every group -- illegal immigrants are no exception -- the grand majority of people here illegally are here because of need. And because there is virtually no way for someone who wants to come here legally from Latin America unless they have an American fiancé, have an extraordinary amount of money, or have some extraordinary talent. Did you know that the wait for a permanent resident (bearing a greed card) to bring a sibling here from Mexico is over fifteen years? For an unskilled labor visa, the wait is even longer. What would you do while your family was in need? Our laws as they are make it prohibitive for poor people to come to this country legally.
I would submit to you that the answer is not a crackdown on the border, although every country has the right to do what they will with their own geographical boundaries. I do not think the answer is mass deportation, as our country’s economy would collapse. This is true, whether anyone likes to admit it or not. Americans simply do not plant, cultivate, and harvest their own produce, build their own houses, clean their own hotel rooms, pave their own roads, vaccinate their own poultry, or milk their own cows on a large scale. They do not volunteer to do these things, either.
The answer is, in my mind, twofold. First, immigration to this great country needs to be easier. If you want people here legally, you need to make it possible for that to happen. People will come here legally if they possibly can. If you don’t want Hispanics here at all, then you have a racial prejudice that far exceeds the scope of illegal immigration.
Second, the real answer lies not with increased border security, not with Arizona Minutemen, nor with political bluster. The real answer is Jesus Christ. When Jesus Christ is in us, we see people as He sees them: souls awaiting harvest. This should be our ultimate goal. When we focus on their immigration status, we lose sight of the fact that we are called to preach the Gospel to all nations (from the Greek “ethnos,” meaning “people group”). This includes Hispanics and should include immigrants, regardless of how they got here. (And who does “here” belong to, really? We are only stewards. The universe is God’s, including the United States of America.)
In your future broadcasts, I would like to see the focus shift from people’s race and/or immigration status to how best to reach them with the Gospel. I do not think singling people out by race is what Christ would have us do, nor is it a family value worthy of teaching my son.
Comments welcome, of course.
American Family Radio
Post Office Box 3206
Tupelo, MS 38803
Dear Sir or Madam:
I am a Bible-believing, born-again Christian and have been a listener to AFR for several years now. My family and I enjoy most of your programming, as it is difficult at best to find programming that does not include foul language or other vulgarities.
However, I have been disturbed, alarmed, and frankly, displeased at the decidedly anti-immigration slant. Specifically, your broadcasts have been anti-Hispanic immigrant. During “News to the Hour” on April 26, 2007, your broadcaster stated that “immigration is not good for family values” quoting a statistic that 42% of babies born to Hispanic immigrants in this country are born out of wedlock, I am supposing to back up that statement.
I have a few questions about that statistic. First, you quote a percentage in the 30’s as the percent of American-citizen couples that give birth to babies without being married. Is there a statistical margin of error? I am guessing not. Either way, there is not a wide enough difference between the two numbers to imply that Hispanics are the reason for this country’s moral decline.
Second, why does the number include only Hispanics? The whole news blurb smacked of racial bias to my ears. Are these not people for whom Christ died? Does He not love Hispanics as much as he loves any other people group? Why, then, are we quoting statistics like these that would cause listeners to look down upon them? A 42% rate of out-of-wedlock births is not an indication to look down on any group of people, nor to clamp down on immigration to this country. It is, however, an indication to reach out to these people with the good news of Jesus Christ. Have we been saved so long that we have forgotten that others are still lost? What should we expect from sinners other than sin?
I am not condoning extramarital sex, nor having babies out of wedlock. I believe both are wrong, but are they more wrong when they occur among Hispanics than when they occur among white Anglo-Saxons? God doesn’t think so and I don’t either. Sin is sin, regardless of whose sin it is.
Leviticus 19:33-34 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. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt.” Notice the text does not ask us to check whether that alien is here in a legal manner. The argument can be made that illegal immigration is against the laws of this country and lawbreakers should be punished. If carrying a Bible were to become illegal in this country, I daresay Christians would (or should) continue to carry them and become lawbreakers as well. Does the fact that something is legal make it okay? Is the fact that something is illegal make it wrong? Christ broke all sorts of laws when He healed the crippled woman on the Sabbath in Luke 13. (As a footnote, anyone who has ever driven above the speed limit is a lawbreaker as much as any illegal immigrant. Break one law, you’ve broken them all. Isn’t that what the Bible teaches?)
In closing, I want to ask anyone who has such a beef with illegal immigration a question: Do you personally know any illegal immigrants? I am not asking if you’ve seen any. I am asking if you have befriended a person here illegally, had supper at their house, invited them to supper at yours, if you have talked with that person and heard their story. I have had the privilege to meet and talk with many. While there are criminals in every group -- illegal immigrants are no exception -- the grand majority of people here illegally are here because of need. And because there is virtually no way for someone who wants to come here legally from Latin America unless they have an American fiancé, have an extraordinary amount of money, or have some extraordinary talent. Did you know that the wait for a permanent resident (bearing a greed card) to bring a sibling here from Mexico is over fifteen years? For an unskilled labor visa, the wait is even longer. What would you do while your family was in need? Our laws as they are make it prohibitive for poor people to come to this country legally.
I would submit to you that the answer is not a crackdown on the border, although every country has the right to do what they will with their own geographical boundaries. I do not think the answer is mass deportation, as our country’s economy would collapse. This is true, whether anyone likes to admit it or not. Americans simply do not plant, cultivate, and harvest their own produce, build their own houses, clean their own hotel rooms, pave their own roads, vaccinate their own poultry, or milk their own cows on a large scale. They do not volunteer to do these things, either.
The answer is, in my mind, twofold. First, immigration to this great country needs to be easier. If you want people here legally, you need to make it possible for that to happen. People will come here legally if they possibly can. If you don’t want Hispanics here at all, then you have a racial prejudice that far exceeds the scope of illegal immigration.
Second, the real answer lies not with increased border security, not with Arizona Minutemen, nor with political bluster. The real answer is Jesus Christ. When Jesus Christ is in us, we see people as He sees them: souls awaiting harvest. This should be our ultimate goal. When we focus on their immigration status, we lose sight of the fact that we are called to preach the Gospel to all nations (from the Greek “ethnos,” meaning “people group”). This includes Hispanics and should include immigrants, regardless of how they got here. (And who does “here” belong to, really? We are only stewards. The universe is God’s, including the United States of America.)
In your future broadcasts, I would like to see the focus shift from people’s race and/or immigration status to how best to reach them with the Gospel. I do not think singling people out by race is what Christ would have us do, nor is it a family value worthy of teaching my son.
Going through old papers...
...and found this copy of an email sent to me while I was in college.
Top 10 Ways the Bible Would Be Different if It Were Written by College Students (though it is fine as is):
10. The Last Supper would have been eaten the next morning -- cold.
9. The 10 Commandments were actually 5, double-spaced, and written in a larger font.
8. New edition every 2 years to limit reselling.
7. Forbidden fruit would have been eaten because it wasn't cafeteria food.
6. Paul's lettter to the Romans becomes Paul's email to abuse@romans.gov
5. Reason Cain killed Abel: They were roommates.
4. The place where the world ends: Finals.
3. Out go the mules, in come the mountain bikes.
2. Reason why Moses & followers walked in the desert for 40 years: they didn't want to ask for directions & look like freshmen.
1. Instead of God creating the world in six days, and resting on the seventh, He would have put it off 'til the night before it was due and pulled an all-nighter.
Top 10 Ways the Bible Would Be Different if It Were Written by College Students (though it is fine as is):
10. The Last Supper would have been eaten the next morning -- cold.
9. The 10 Commandments were actually 5, double-spaced, and written in a larger font.
8. New edition every 2 years to limit reselling.
7. Forbidden fruit would have been eaten because it wasn't cafeteria food.
6. Paul's lettter to the Romans becomes Paul's email to abuse@romans.gov
5. Reason Cain killed Abel: They were roommates.
4. The place where the world ends: Finals.
3. Out go the mules, in come the mountain bikes.
2. Reason why Moses & followers walked in the desert for 40 years: they didn't want to ask for directions & look like freshmen.
1. Instead of God creating the world in six days, and resting on the seventh, He would have put it off 'til the night before it was due and pulled an all-nighter.
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