Orphans of God

No matter what happens on this earth, what a comfort it is to know that we could never be an orphan of God! He is our father forever, and he will NEVER leave us or forsake us. Praise God!!!

Oops

I apologize to the person who posted a comment the other day. I was changing my blog this morning to make it pretty much a book review blog, and I realized after I'd deleted some old posts that there was a comment waiting to be moderated. Sorry about that!

Book Recommendation

My daughter and I checked out a great book from the library the other day.  My daughter actually picked it out, and I didn't realize what a gem she'd found until we read it together.  With Black History Month coming up soon, it would be a great book to share with your kids/class.  It's called Voices of the Dream, edited by Venice Johnson.  It contains moving quotes from African-American women, and the quotes are accompanied by art by African-American women.  Women quoted include Barbara Jordan, Oprah Winfrey, Mahalia Jackson (my favorite gospel singer), and many others.  Here are a couple of my favorites:

"It's easy to be independent when you've got money.  But to be independent when you  haven't got a thing - that's the Lord's test." - Mahalia Jackson (1911-1972)

"That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere.  Nobody ever helps me into carriages, over mud puddles, or gives me any best place!  And ain't I a woman?...I have plowed and planted and gathered into barns, and no man could head me - and ain't I a woman?  I could work as much and eat as much as a man (when I could get it), and bear the lash as well - and ain't I a woman?  I have borne thirteen children and seen them most all sold off into slavery, and when I cried out with a mother's grief, none but Jesus heard - and ain't I a woman?" - Sojourner Truth (c.1797 - 1883)

I'll never know what it's like to be anything other than the race that I am.  But reading the words from these women's hearts brought me a little bit closer to understanding what they've gone through over the years.  And the artwork is beautiful as well. 

"Ah!  Dearest Jesus, Holy Child,

Make thee a bed, soft, undefiled,

Within my heart, that it may be

A quiet chamber kept for thee." 

- Martin Luther

No Ordinary Night

- by Ruth Bell Graham

Those were no ordinary sheep...

no common flocks,

huddled in sleep 

among the fields,

the layered rocks,

Near Bethlehem

That Night;

but those

selected for the Temple sacrifice:

theirs to atone

for sins

they had not done.

How right

the angels should appear to them

That Night.

Those were no usual shepherds

there,

but outcast shepherds

whose unusual care

of special sheep

made it impossible to keep

Rabbinic law,

which therefore banned them.

How right

the angels should appear

to them

That Night.

(from "Ruth Bell Graham's Collected Poems" by Ruth Bell Graham, c1977, 1992, 1997, 

the Ruth Graham Literary Trust)

Here's a very interesting quote:

“We cannot blink the fact that gentle Jesus, meek and mild, was so stiff in His opinions and so inflammatory in His language, that He was thrown out of church, stoned, hunted from place to place, and finally gibbetted as a firebrand and a public danger. We have very efficiently pared the claws of the Lion of Judah into a household pet for pale curates and pious old ladies.” -Dorothy L. Sayers

One of my favorite songs from a movie soundtrack...beautiful.  

The movie is great too.

Daniel

"Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever;

wisdom and power are his.

He changes times and seasons;

he sets up kings and deposes them.

He gives wisdom to the wise

and knowledge to the discerning.

He reveals deep and hidden things;

he knows what lies in darkness,

and light dwells with him." - Daniel 2:20-22

"I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed: 
"O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands, 5 we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. 6 We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

 7 "Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame—the men of Judah and people of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you. 8 O LORD, we and our kings, our princes and our fathers are covered with shame because we have sinned against you. 9 The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him; 10we have not obeyed the LORD our God or kept the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets. 11 All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you. 
"Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you. 12 You have fulfilled the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us great disaster. Under the whole heaven nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem. 13 Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth. 14 The LORD did not hesitate to bring the disaster upon us, for the LORD our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him.

 15 "Now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and who made for yourself a name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong. 16 O Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill. Our sins and the iniquities of our fathers have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us.

 17 "Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, O Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. 18 Give ear, O God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. 

19 O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name."" - Daniel 9:4-19

Equal Opportunity Field Day???

I just witnessed the  most depressing Field Day event ever.  What were your Field Days like when you were in elementary school?  I have happy memories of people cheering and classmates enjoying healthy competition with one another.  I was always the too-tall chubby kid, but even I was able to win some 1st place ribbons, especially since some events were team events.  Our whole class competed against other classes in events like Tug of War.  I still remember how exciting it was to see the flag move over to our side as our class pulled the other class over.  There was excitement in the air.  

Move forward about 30 years.  My daughter told me last week that her school would be having Field Day on Halloween.  I talked it up to be a really fun thing, and I told her I'd come watch her.  So this morning I went up to the school ready to watch the fun.  I knew something was wrong when the teacher announced that the kids had to stay with their buddy.  They could only compete against that one partner.  So there were no races with different heats, no races with more than two people competing.  And when I say "competing," I'm using the word very loosely.  I rarely heard anyone saying "On your mark, get set, go!"  It was more like, "Whenever you feel like starting, go ahead."  

Welcome to the equal opportunity Field Day.  When I started writing this post, I did not intend to relate it to politics.  I was just really disappointed that kids today don't get to experience Field Day the way it was meant to be.  But as I was writing, I realized that this is a perfect analogy to our political situation today.  Some would say that the Field Day was a success because there were no losers.  But the downside to that is that there were no winners either.  So do you know what I saw on that field today?  I saw lots of kids roaming around wondering what they were working toward.  With no clear winners, there was no goal to reach for.  There were no ribbons to reward accomplishment; the kids just had each event checked off a piece of paper as they went around the track/field.  I heard no cheers and I felt no excitement.  The kids did not get to experience the joy of playing on a team (you should've seen the sad Tug of War game...two kids holding a rope with no flag in the middle...what's the point??).  Some kids got tired of the whole thing and just went to sit in the swings.  My daughter must have wondered why I had made such a big deal out of this whole Field Day thing.  

Today I saw redistribution in action.  There were no winners and no losers, thus no motivation to excel.  If you vote for Obama, then you are saying that this is what you want your world to look like.  Obama's redistribution would actually be the equal distribution of misery.  Taking more from the wealthy and giving it to the poor gives the poor absolutely no incentive to make better lives for themselves.  The poor already get plenty of help through our all-too-generous welfare system (otherwise, we wouldn't have so many people staying on welfare year after year...welfare should be a temporary fix until you get back on your feet, not a permanent way of life).  Why make more money if the government is just going to take it away?  Why go out and actually get a job when Obama's big government will take care of you?  I personally don't want my world to look like the Field Day I saw today, because I saw lots of sad faces.  I saw kids sitting on the sidelines who are usually high energy kids who love to have fun.  But it's no fun to run a race that you have no hopes of winning.  IT JUST DOESN'T WORK.  It's not how our country became strong, and it will bring our country to destruction.  

If you don't want to see this happen, vote for McCain...vote for America...

vote for DEMOCRACY!