Showing posts with label Brown Baggin'it. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brown Baggin'it. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Buckets
What's in your bucket?
What if each day of your life was captured in and represented by a bucket?
What would you find as you walked along a path lined with the buckets of your life? Full buckets or empty buckets? Would they contain contents you'd happily splash on others or sludge you'd rather others not know?
Would you find yourself often eager and excited to sit on the path and spill a bucket before you, lifting each item high, smiling, and holding it close to your heart?
Would you find yourself peering into buckets then looking about hoping no one else could see what you see in there?
Would you find empty buckets?
Would you find buckets overflowing?
Are your days represented by large buckets or small ones?
Are your buckets filled with people or things?
If someone else stumbled upon this path and only knew you by the contents of your buckets what picture would they draw of you?
What are the colors within the buckets? Are there colors at all, or shades? What's on the outside of the buckets, anything? What do the buckets of your life reflect?
It is true, they are your buckets and, in many ways, not there for the evaluation of others, but it is also true they are open for the consideration of all. It is also true that most paths will have some buckets filled and others spilled with both good and bad, sweet and sour, joy and sorrow, triumph and suffering.
There will be buckets empty, too.
What do you find in your buckets as you walk along the path of your life? Contents to share? Contents to hide? Contents you'd forgotten?
The buckets before you as you bend to rest today's bucket in its place on the path ... what of them?
With what do you hope to fill tomorrow's bucket so that one day when you walk this path again you'll find it and hold it with pleasure? What brings you lasting pleasure and how much of it do you find in these buckets?
The path itself, what does it look like? Neat and trimmed, littered and lonely, winding with hills, well lit or dim?
What's in your buckets and where do you keep them and with whom do you share them?
Is this a path that tells your true story, the story you imagined, the story you planned, a story at all?
What's in your buckets?
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
When two plus two isn't ....
I'm not sure who I heard say it the other day, but it bears consideration with regard to the "occupy" movement ...
When you have a few people who know what they want (self-described anarchists) infiltrating a large group of followers who concede they don't know what they want and admit they are looking for leaders, it is an equation for trouble.
Change for the sake of change alone looks much like foolishness to those who are watching.
G.K. Chesterton writing in "Orthodoxy" (1908) observed,
It is true that a man (a silly man) might make change itself his object or ideal. But as an ideal, change becomes unchangeable. If the change-worshipper wishes to estimate his own progress, he must be sternly loyal to the idea of change; he must not begin to flirt gaily with the ideal of monotony. Progress itself cannot progress. It is worth remark, in passing, that when Tennyson, in a wild and rather weak manner, welcomed the idea of infinite alteration in society, he instinctively took a metaphor which suggests an imprisoned tedium. He wrote -
Let the great world spin forever down the ringing grooves of change.
He thought of change itself as an unchangeable groove; and so it is. Change is about the narrowest and hardest groove a man can get into.
Something to think about ...
When you have a few people who know what they want (self-described anarchists) infiltrating a large group of followers who concede they don't know what they want and admit they are looking for leaders, it is an equation for trouble.
Change for the sake of change alone looks much like foolishness to those who are watching.
G.K. Chesterton writing in "Orthodoxy" (1908) observed,
It is true that a man (a silly man) might make change itself his object or ideal. But as an ideal, change becomes unchangeable. If the change-worshipper wishes to estimate his own progress, he must be sternly loyal to the idea of change; he must not begin to flirt gaily with the ideal of monotony. Progress itself cannot progress. It is worth remark, in passing, that when Tennyson, in a wild and rather weak manner, welcomed the idea of infinite alteration in society, he instinctively took a metaphor which suggests an imprisoned tedium. He wrote -
Let the great world spin forever down the ringing grooves of change.
He thought of change itself as an unchangeable groove; and so it is. Change is about the narrowest and hardest groove a man can get into.
Something to think about ...
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Solon Beef Days 2011
Solon Beef Days is like a little town fair, held the third week in July, in "little town" Iowa. In many ways it reminds me of the Warren City Fair, circa 1970's. Neighbors gather with a certain amount of expectation of seeing friends they haven't since, well, last Solon Beef Days.
Attending this celebration of all things beef (though locals refer to it jokingly as "Solon Beer Days", I'm sure you can guess why and correctly on your first attempt) has become one of my landmarks of fun during the year.
The first year I attended there was a really good Rod Stewart-Soundalike band.
Last night I got to watch my first "Hay Bale Toss Contest". It reminded me in a lot of ways of the first rodeo I had attended in Cheyenne, WY at Cheyenne Frontier Days. For a short while you're there watching, then wondering, what all the hoop and hollering is about, and before you know it, you're joining in the fun.
So it was last night as I found myself caught up in the groupthink atmosphere, soon cheering on a total stranger in the hopes he'd toss a bale of hay over (what appeared to be the local high school's pole vaulting equipment) 15 feet into the air. When he was done I found myself cheering with equal exuberance for another total stranger to do the same or best the previous attempt.
It was all good fun, complete with two pretty gals (much like the Rounds girl in a boxing match) to raise the bar during the competition.
It ended in a tie, by the way, when the two local farm boys simply could not out do each other any longer ... and with a hug these two beefy (remember it is "Solon BEEF Days") fellas, exhausted, clasped hands in a congratulatory salute that only the two competitors could fully understand.
Attending this celebration of all things beef (though locals refer to it jokingly as "Solon Beer Days", I'm sure you can guess why and correctly on your first attempt) has become one of my landmarks of fun during the year.
The first year I attended there was a really good Rod Stewart-Soundalike band.
Last night I got to watch my first "Hay Bale Toss Contest". It reminded me in a lot of ways of the first rodeo I had attended in Cheyenne, WY at Cheyenne Frontier Days. For a short while you're there watching, then wondering, what all the hoop and hollering is about, and before you know it, you're joining in the fun.
So it was last night as I found myself caught up in the groupthink atmosphere, soon cheering on a total stranger in the hopes he'd toss a bale of hay over (what appeared to be the local high school's pole vaulting equipment) 15 feet into the air. When he was done I found myself cheering with equal exuberance for another total stranger to do the same or best the previous attempt.
It was all good fun, complete with two pretty gals (much like the Rounds girl in a boxing match) to raise the bar during the competition.
It ended in a tie, by the way, when the two local farm boys simply could not out do each other any longer ... and with a hug these two beefy (remember it is "Solon BEEF Days") fellas, exhausted, clasped hands in a congratulatory salute that only the two competitors could fully understand.
Monday, July 11, 2011
I've been wondering about this since 4th grade ...
and I think I figured it out yesterday while watching the Guy Lombardo Show on PBS ... (yes, I enjoy watching that and the Lawrence Welk Show as well ... there is humor, it is wholesome, and I like it).
Now, don't misunderstand me ... it is not as though I have been in deep continuous cogitation on this matter since elementary school ... but, I remember learning that the piano was part of the percussion family and that did not make sense to me until last night while I watched a performer play the harp with quite masterful speed and precision. As he played I noticed the similarity in sound between the music advancing and the sound of a piano ... but I was certain a harp is part of the string family, and, as already mentioned, I recalled that a piano is part of the percussion lineage.
So as I sat and watched I pondered what is the difference between the two instruments and how they are played, even though they are capable of producing similar sounds in the right hands?
What makes one a string and one a percussion?
I noted that the harp sounds are the result of the hands pulling or plucking on the strings, while the sounds of a piano result from the pushing or pounding of the hands on keys that result in a hammer striking the strings ... this pushing motion reminded me of the motions needed to elicit the sounds of other percussion instruments, like drums.
I concluded, therefore that this is why the piano is a percussion instrument, because of the percussing action that results in a sound.
When I "googled" it, I found out I had reasoned through to a correct conclusion.
Now, it is true I might have easily looked this up some time ago, but it was more fun this way!
Now, don't misunderstand me ... it is not as though I have been in deep continuous cogitation on this matter since elementary school ... but, I remember learning that the piano was part of the percussion family and that did not make sense to me until last night while I watched a performer play the harp with quite masterful speed and precision. As he played I noticed the similarity in sound between the music advancing and the sound of a piano ... but I was certain a harp is part of the string family, and, as already mentioned, I recalled that a piano is part of the percussion lineage.
So as I sat and watched I pondered what is the difference between the two instruments and how they are played, even though they are capable of producing similar sounds in the right hands?
What makes one a string and one a percussion?
I noted that the harp sounds are the result of the hands pulling or plucking on the strings, while the sounds of a piano result from the pushing or pounding of the hands on keys that result in a hammer striking the strings ... this pushing motion reminded me of the motions needed to elicit the sounds of other percussion instruments, like drums.
I concluded, therefore that this is why the piano is a percussion instrument, because of the percussing action that results in a sound.
When I "googled" it, I found out I had reasoned through to a correct conclusion.
Now, it is true I might have easily looked this up some time ago, but it was more fun this way!
Thursday, June 23, 2011
One of those Neat Little Surprises
Yes, it is true, I continue to use a "pay as you go" cell phone. Yesterday I sat down and calculated what the cost of the phone would be under the different available plans. Presently, I pay $60.00 per month for unlimited talk and text.
Wouldn't you know, my calculations show that if I were using a different plan ($2.00 per day, but only charged for the fee on dates the phone is actually used) the totals worked out to be remarkably close.
So, I decided to call the carrier and change plans, reasoning that I might save $20.00 per month with better use. All the while I was thinking to myself, "why don't they just lower the price on the unlimited package to be more competitive with other carriers?".
When I spoke with "Hector" he immediately explained that starting today a new plan was being rolled out as $50.00 per month for unlimited talk, text, and internet use.
One of those neat surprises ... I changed to the new plan.
Wouldn't you know, my calculations show that if I were using a different plan ($2.00 per day, but only charged for the fee on dates the phone is actually used) the totals worked out to be remarkably close.
So, I decided to call the carrier and change plans, reasoning that I might save $20.00 per month with better use. All the while I was thinking to myself, "why don't they just lower the price on the unlimited package to be more competitive with other carriers?".
When I spoke with "Hector" he immediately explained that starting today a new plan was being rolled out as $50.00 per month for unlimited talk, text, and internet use.
One of those neat surprises ... I changed to the new plan.
Friday, June 3, 2011
A Pattern in Music When MP3s Shuffle
Growing up in Detroit there was a radio program on WJR entitled “Patterns in Music”. Each Sunday morning a theme would be gently explored through song. Out walking with an MP3 player in hand and “shuffle” mode in gear I noted something probably far less than a pattern, but all the same a good reflection among a pairing of songs. “Many times I’ve been alone, and many times I’ve cried … anyway, you’ll never know the many ways I’ve tried … you left me standing here a long, long time ago …”
My first impulse was a very selfish and, I’d like to think, a very human one. I thought of people to whom I might like to express this sentiment. Then, in an instant, my focus changed as I considered the possibility that there might be someone that I’ve hurt who could easily recite and apply this lyric from the Beatles’ “The Long and Winding Road” to me. I wondered about people that I may have “left standing [t]here, a long, long time ago …” I thought about those to whom I may have been a cause of tears and disappointment. I thought about how hurt I have been by individuals that did not seem to appreciate or “know the many ways I’ve tried”, and then reflected on the discomforting likelihood that I, too, have unfairly discounted the many ways, unknown to me, that others have tried.
It was a good reflection for a walk on Memorial Day this 2011.
Then another lyric began “There are people in your life who've come and gone, they let you down and hurt your pride … better put it all behind you; life goes on, [if] you keep carrying that anger, it'll eat you up inside … I think it's about forgiveness …”
My first impulse was a very selfish and, I’d like to think, a very human one. I thought of people to whom I might like to express this sentiment. Then, in an instant, my focus changed as I considered the possibility that there might be someone that I’ve hurt who could easily recite and apply this lyric from the Beatles’ “The Long and Winding Road” to me. I wondered about people that I may have “left standing [t]here, a long, long time ago …” I thought about those to whom I may have been a cause of tears and disappointment. I thought about how hurt I have been by individuals that did not seem to appreciate or “know the many ways I’ve tried”, and then reflected on the discomforting likelihood that I, too, have unfairly discounted the many ways, unknown to me, that others have tried.
It was a good reflection for a walk on Memorial Day this 2011.
Then another lyric began “There are people in your life who've come and gone, they let you down and hurt your pride … better put it all behind you; life goes on, [if] you keep carrying that anger, it'll eat you up inside … I think it's about forgiveness …”
Friday, January 14, 2011
Open Letter To A Friend That's Hurting
Dear Christine,
You are a strong
You believe in things greater than yourself and for that you will always run into others that treat you unkindly, dishonestly, and even maliciously at times.
I don't know their motives or why they behave as they do toward you. They will talk the talk of "tolerance" and yet treat you very coldly and with a rage of intolerance.
You are a very loving person, Christine, and I know I myself have treated you at times with something less than love. For that I, I'm sure you know, am sorry.
You are a strong
You believe in things greater than yourself and for that you will always run into others that treat you unkindly, dishonestly, and even maliciously at times.
I don't know their motives or why they behave as they do toward you. They will talk the talk of "tolerance" and yet treat you very coldly and with a rage of intolerance.
You are a very loving person, Christine, and I know I myself have treated you at times with something less than love. For that I, I'm sure you know, am sorry.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Things for which I'm thankful this Thanksgiving 2010
For this year, a list of things for which I’m thankful – in no particular order –
I am thankful for the health I have – the gift of senses – sight and hearing and touch and smell and taste – and the ability to feel emotions – compassion and love and joy and happiness – and even sadness and hurt and guilt and shame (for from these, too, I learn things if I’m willing to listen).
I’m thankful for smiles from checkers at the grocery store and the stories that patients share with me.
I’m thankful for the unconditional love of my family who I think sometimes could only love me unconditionally.
I’m thankful for the work I get to do and the co-workers with whom I get to work – sometimes they confuse me and annoy me and disappoint me and even hurt me (and yes, you can be hurt without your permission), but other times they cheer me up, the listen, they encourage me, they teach me, they make me smile, they share with me, they care, and I think, in their own way, some of them love me (not unconditionally, but inasmuch as is appropriate among co-workers).
I’m thankful for the gifts that God has given me – His Mercy, His Love, His Grace, His Charity. Goodness knows I rely on all of these in abundance.
I’m thankful for friends God has placed about me – some who – sometimes it seems – out of nowhere surprise me with a call or a letter or a smile or they just pop into a memory and offer me wonderful insight or an escape to some distant time of different hopes and dreams.
I’m thankful for this little place I call “home”.
I’m thankful for raindrops and snowflakes and mud and sunshine and rakes and brakes and streams and ponds and rivulets and lakes and oceans and swimming pools and running shoes.
I’m thankful for steering wheels.
I’m thankful for the understanding of people who see with a clarity of soul beyond the pale and veneer and for the depth of wisdom of human nature they possess and share.
I’m thankful for wood and stud-finders and laughter and TVs and computers and antennas and radios.
I’m thankful for pants and pens that write and pocketbooks and pencils and teacups and pencil sharpeners.
I’m thankful for chairs and pliers and spoons and stable tables and forks and nails and knobs and picnic blankets – that all do what they’re supposed to …
I’m thankful for dogs and fish and marbles and to a lesser degree cats (only because they make some people happy).
I’m thankful for the warmth of blankets on a cold night, fans when it is hot, good books and the ability to read, and electricity.
I’m thankful for the people that help me when I need it and I’m thankful for those who accept my help when I’m able to lend a hand.
I’m thankful for many, many, many, many things I all too often take for granted.
I’m thankful for a wonderful life that God has given me for which all too often it may appear I am something less than thankful.
This day of Thanksgiving is a miraculous day to give thanks to God – and this day is a gift unlike any other, Thank You, God!
I am thankful for the health I have – the gift of senses – sight and hearing and touch and smell and taste – and the ability to feel emotions – compassion and love and joy and happiness – and even sadness and hurt and guilt and shame (for from these, too, I learn things if I’m willing to listen).
I’m thankful for smiles from checkers at the grocery store and the stories that patients share with me.
I’m thankful for the unconditional love of my family who I think sometimes could only love me unconditionally.
I’m thankful for the work I get to do and the co-workers with whom I get to work – sometimes they confuse me and annoy me and disappoint me and even hurt me (and yes, you can be hurt without your permission), but other times they cheer me up, the listen, they encourage me, they teach me, they make me smile, they share with me, they care, and I think, in their own way, some of them love me (not unconditionally, but inasmuch as is appropriate among co-workers).
I’m thankful for the gifts that God has given me – His Mercy, His Love, His Grace, His Charity. Goodness knows I rely on all of these in abundance.
I’m thankful for friends God has placed about me – some who – sometimes it seems – out of nowhere surprise me with a call or a letter or a smile or they just pop into a memory and offer me wonderful insight or an escape to some distant time of different hopes and dreams.
I’m thankful for this little place I call “home”.
I’m thankful for raindrops and snowflakes and mud and sunshine and rakes and brakes and streams and ponds and rivulets and lakes and oceans and swimming pools and running shoes.
I’m thankful for steering wheels.
I’m thankful for the understanding of people who see with a clarity of soul beyond the pale and veneer and for the depth of wisdom of human nature they possess and share.
I’m thankful for wood and stud-finders and laughter and TVs and computers and antennas and radios.
I’m thankful for pants and pens that write and pocketbooks and pencils and teacups and pencil sharpeners.
I’m thankful for chairs and pliers and spoons and stable tables and forks and nails and knobs and picnic blankets – that all do what they’re supposed to …
I’m thankful for dogs and fish and marbles and to a lesser degree cats (only because they make some people happy).
I’m thankful for the warmth of blankets on a cold night, fans when it is hot, good books and the ability to read, and electricity.
I’m thankful for the people that help me when I need it and I’m thankful for those who accept my help when I’m able to lend a hand.
I’m thankful for many, many, many, many things I all too often take for granted.
I’m thankful for a wonderful life that God has given me for which all too often it may appear I am something less than thankful.
This day of Thanksgiving is a miraculous day to give thanks to God – and this day is a gift unlike any other, Thank You, God!
Friday, November 5, 2010
Give It Back With Love
Take it easy, take it slow,
Take it as you may
Take it where the wind may blow
For another day
Words can bruise, words may wound,
By thoughtless word or deed
The tongue's a sword
And surely may lead a soul to bleed
Mistakes are made and bruises fade
This too shall pass, they say
Take it easy, take it slow
Then give it all away
The darkest night precedes what might
Be the dawning of
The day you take it in with pain
And give it back with love
Take it as you may
Take it where the wind may blow
For another day
Words can bruise, words may wound,
By thoughtless word or deed
The tongue's a sword
And surely may lead a soul to bleed
Mistakes are made and bruises fade
This too shall pass, they say
Take it easy, take it slow
Then give it all away
The darkest night precedes what might
Be the dawning of
The day you take it in with pain
And give it back with love
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Liberalism - Definition
Pertinent definition of oft-bandied word ...
"Until the eighteenth century the term generally meant whatever was worthy of a free man, e.g., as applied to the liberal arts or a liberal education. This meaning is still current, but at least since the French Revolution liberalism has become more or less identified with a philosophy that stresses human freedom to the neglect and even denial of the rights of God in religion, the rights of society in civil law, and the rights of the Church in her relations to the State. It was in this sense that liberalism was condemned by Pope Pius IX in 1864 in the Syllabus of Errors (Denzinger, 2977-80)".1
1 Hardon, John, S.J. 1999 (2nd Printing, 2001). "Modern Catholic Dictionary", p. 317. Eternal Life. Brownsville, Kentucky.
"Denzinger" refers to Enchiridion Symbolorum (Handbook of Creeds) originally edited by Henry Denzinger and first published in 1854.
"Until the eighteenth century the term generally meant whatever was worthy of a free man, e.g., as applied to the liberal arts or a liberal education. This meaning is still current, but at least since the French Revolution liberalism has become more or less identified with a philosophy that stresses human freedom to the neglect and even denial of the rights of God in religion, the rights of society in civil law, and the rights of the Church in her relations to the State. It was in this sense that liberalism was condemned by Pope Pius IX in 1864 in the Syllabus of Errors (Denzinger, 2977-80)".1
1 Hardon, John, S.J. 1999 (2nd Printing, 2001). "Modern Catholic Dictionary", p. 317. Eternal Life. Brownsville, Kentucky.
"Denzinger" refers to Enchiridion Symbolorum (Handbook of Creeds) originally edited by Henry Denzinger and first published in 1854.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Oprah Shows Her True Colors with Words of Discouragement for Teens
On January 22, 2010 Oprah Winfrey criticized 19 year-old Bristol Palin, daughter of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, for pledging abstinence until marriage during an interview with In Touch Weekly. Bristol, who has admitted to previous poor choices, is a mother of one.
Oprah commented at the start of the interview with Bristol, “I kind of bristled when I saw this—where you said, ‘I’m not going to have sex until I’m married. I can guarantee it’ ... I’m just wondering if that is a realistic goal. I think teaching responsibility, teaching, ya know, a sense of judgment about it, but is that a realistic position?”
Oprah commented at the start of the interview with Bristol, “I kind of bristled when I saw this—where you said, ‘I’m not going to have sex until I’m married. I can guarantee it’ ... I’m just wondering if that is a realistic goal. I think teaching responsibility, teaching, ya know, a sense of judgment about it, but is that a realistic position?”
Monday, January 25, 2010
A Story of Life - "A Mass of Fetal Tissue" - A Heisman Trophy
I heard about this story on 1/25/10. The story is being told in an advertisement placed during the NFL's Superbowl on the CBS Broadcasting Network. The ad was produced by and paid for by the Christian group Focus on the Family. The cost to place the ad is reportedly about $2 million dollars, all of which has been paid for by donors to Focus on the Family who donated specifically for this project. Almost immediately after hearing this story, a twist was filtered through and given center stage in mainstream media - certain groups that claim to advocate on behalf of women, and groups that call themselves "pro-choice" were raising a ruckus about the ad. Though, representatives from such groups admit they had not seen the ad ... they were opposed to it. In fact, the only ones that had seen the ad were those involved in its production and some Focus on the Family staff. CBS had reviewed a script and determined the ad met whatever guidelines CBS imposes. What is interesting is that the groups that oppose the ad oppose it - without having seen it or having reviewed scripts or poster boards, mind you - because it comes from a Christian group and is NOT supportive of abortion. These groups call themselves "pro-choice" but seem to really struggle with individuals who choose life instead of, well, another "choice". Rather than make a fuss over ads that undoubtedly will air during the game which reduce women to nothing but play things for men and exploit them as objects useful to sell product - these groups choose to fuss over (the personal and private decisions they say they defend) of the family told in this story. Rather than fuss over domestic abuse against women, these "pro-women, pro-choice" groups want to vilify one woman, one family, and one man for making a choice. Very telling indeed.
In the mid-1980s, Pam and her husband Bob, were Christian missionaries in the Philippines and raising four young children. While abroad, she contracted amoebic dysentery, which is typically transmitted through contaminated food or water. During this time she became pregnant with her fifth child. The treatment for the dysentery would require strong medications that doctors told Pam would cause irreversible damage to the little baby she and her husband had already named “Timmy”; they advised her to have an abortion.
Pam refused the abortion and cited her Christian faith as the reason for her hope that her son would be born without the devastating disabilities physicians predicted. She and her husband prayed to God and promised that they would raise the boy to be a Christian and a preacher.
Doctors continued to counsel the mother and family to abort the baby, describing the child as “a mass of fetal tissue and not a baby". She spent the last two months of her pregnancy in bed and, eventually, gave birth to a health baby boy in August 1987.
Little Timmy, now a man, did grow into a preacher with a ministry to prison inmates and orphans. Veteran sports commentators gush, not only about Timmy’s fearlessness on the football field, but also about his off-the-field endeavors. Little Timmy is Tim Tebow the University of Florida quarterback, who became the first sophomore to ever receive the prized college football honor, the Heisman trophy.
In Florida he has become a role model garnering so much affection that the local fans like to joke that "Superman wears Tim Tebow pajamas." In Alabama, there is even a Tim Tebow bill in the legislature which would afford home scholars (Tebow and his siblings were all home-schooled) equal access to public-school sports programs and extracurricular activities.
As prominent researcher Joel Brind writes in a LifeNews.com editorial, doctors are frequently telling women they should consider abortions when confronted with various medical situations affecting their health. Yet, as he notes, physicians can successfully treat both mother and child without suggesting that the baby be killed to spare a mother's life.
Read more about the work of Dr. Brind at http://www.abortionbreastcancer.com/
REVISION - AFTER AIRING OF THE AD
Seriously, so what was the fuss about? Now, the same groups that opposed the ad prior to its airing are complaining it was too violent, because through a sight gag the appearance is given that Tim Tebow tackles his mother in a football blocking style. Are the same groups complaining about the ad that aired just before this one, in which, a facsimile of actress Betty White was tackled? The ad was well done with a tag to visit the Focus on the Family website for more of the Tebow family story. The ad can be viewed at numerous sites found through a quick search through many familiar search engines.
***
In the mid-1980s, Pam and her husband Bob, were Christian missionaries in the Philippines and raising four young children. While abroad, she contracted amoebic dysentery, which is typically transmitted through contaminated food or water. During this time she became pregnant with her fifth child. The treatment for the dysentery would require strong medications that doctors told Pam would cause irreversible damage to the little baby she and her husband had already named “Timmy”; they advised her to have an abortion.
Pam refused the abortion and cited her Christian faith as the reason for her hope that her son would be born without the devastating disabilities physicians predicted. She and her husband prayed to God and promised that they would raise the boy to be a Christian and a preacher.
Doctors continued to counsel the mother and family to abort the baby, describing the child as “a mass of fetal tissue and not a baby". She spent the last two months of her pregnancy in bed and, eventually, gave birth to a health baby boy in August 1987.
Little Timmy, now a man, did grow into a preacher with a ministry to prison inmates and orphans. Veteran sports commentators gush, not only about Timmy’s fearlessness on the football field, but also about his off-the-field endeavors. Little Timmy is Tim Tebow the University of Florida quarterback, who became the first sophomore to ever receive the prized college football honor, the Heisman trophy.
In Florida he has become a role model garnering so much affection that the local fans like to joke that "Superman wears Tim Tebow pajamas." In Alabama, there is even a Tim Tebow bill in the legislature which would afford home scholars (Tebow and his siblings were all home-schooled) equal access to public-school sports programs and extracurricular activities.
As prominent researcher Joel Brind writes in a LifeNews.com editorial, doctors are frequently telling women they should consider abortions when confronted with various medical situations affecting their health. Yet, as he notes, physicians can successfully treat both mother and child without suggesting that the baby be killed to spare a mother's life.
Read more about the work of Dr. Brind at http://www.abortionbreastcancer.com/
REVISION - AFTER AIRING OF THE AD
Seriously, so what was the fuss about? Now, the same groups that opposed the ad prior to its airing are complaining it was too violent, because through a sight gag the appearance is given that Tim Tebow tackles his mother in a football blocking style. Are the same groups complaining about the ad that aired just before this one, in which, a facsimile of actress Betty White was tackled? The ad was well done with a tag to visit the Focus on the Family website for more of the Tebow family story. The ad can be viewed at numerous sites found through a quick search through many familiar search engines.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
HealthCare Bill - Online, Readable, Searchable
Have you wondered what's in the Health Care bills? Where you could read them and search them?
www.marpx.com
Heard about this on RelevantRadio.com.
Fascinating stuff.
Not the bills themselves (I don't know, I haven't read them), the website and the technology!
From the website - "January 8, 2010: Over 14,000 classic English books and documents are available free at this site for download onto your Windows computer... Edgar Allen Poe, Charles Dickens, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and thousands of other authors" (www.marpx.com).
www.marpx.com
Heard about this on RelevantRadio.com.
Fascinating stuff.
Not the bills themselves (I don't know, I haven't read them), the website and the technology!
From the website - "January 8, 2010: Over 14,000 classic English books and documents are available free at this site for download onto your Windows computer... Edgar Allen Poe, Charles Dickens, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and thousands of other authors" (www.marpx.com).
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Have you ever been MADLY in love?
Sunday, January 17, 2010
For as many times as I may have heard the readings read at Mass today, today I heard something differently. The Gospel reading was about the wedding at Cana –
Jn 2:1-11
There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.
Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.”
His mother said to the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.”
Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings, each holding twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus told them, “Fill the jars with water.”
So they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, “Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.”
So they took it. And when the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine, without knowing where it came from — although the servers who had drawn the water knew —, the headwaiter called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves good wine first, and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; buy you have kept the good wine until now.”
Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs at Cana in Galilee and so revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe in him. (NAB)
What really struck me … what I heard more clearly this time is that what God offers, what Jesus (God in the form of a man) offers, is better than anything man can offer on his own, even better than what nature can offer on its own (even though nature may often more effortlessly and more truly reflect and cooperate with God’s will). What God offers is better, notably so.
It is not difficult imagining those there present, those whose taste buds had not yet numbed, wondering “Where did THIS wine come from? This wine is the BEST wine.” Yet it had come from water, dirty water.
Have you ever been madly in love with someone? Madly in love with your spouse; madly in love with a boyfriend; madly in love with a girlfriend; madly in love with a newborn son or newborn daughter; madly in love with YOUR child.
When you are madly in love you want to share with the object of that affection what’s best … your best … THE best!
God is madly in love with you …
For as many times as I may have heard the readings read at Mass today, today I heard something differently. The Gospel reading was about the wedding at Cana –
+++
GospelJn 2:1-11
There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.
Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.”
His mother said to the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.”
Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings, each holding twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus told them, “Fill the jars with water.”
So they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, “Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.”
So they took it. And when the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine, without knowing where it came from — although the servers who had drawn the water knew —, the headwaiter called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves good wine first, and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; buy you have kept the good wine until now.”
Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs at Cana in Galilee and so revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe in him. (NAB)
+++
What really struck me … what I heard more clearly this time is that what God offers, what Jesus (God in the form of a man) offers, is better than anything man can offer on his own, even better than what nature can offer on its own (even though nature may often more effortlessly and more truly reflect and cooperate with God’s will). What God offers is better, notably so.
It is not difficult imagining those there present, those whose taste buds had not yet numbed, wondering “Where did THIS wine come from? This wine is the BEST wine.” Yet it had come from water, dirty water.
Have you ever been madly in love with someone? Madly in love with your spouse; madly in love with a boyfriend; madly in love with a girlfriend; madly in love with a newborn son or newborn daughter; madly in love with YOUR child.
When you are madly in love you want to share with the object of that affection what’s best … your best … THE best!
God is madly in love with you …
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