I have been blessed lately to read so many inspirational biographies about peoples' lives and the path that God takes them on. At the present time, I am reading the most remarkable true story of a small town no-name pastor who feels a calling to reach out to the gangs in New York City. It takes place between 1957-60. A time in History in which most Americans would consider "the good ole days", and yet, evil, despair, destruction and lawlessness were at the core of these lost teenagers' lives. I'm so in awe of the Holy Spirit's power to transform a black and cold heart into one of repentance and shame, seeking the Lord's Holy love....all in a matter of seconds. What years and years of counselling and rehabilitation could accomplish, the Holy Spirit did instantaneously! Here is an excerpt from the "Cross and the Switchblade" by David Wilkerson:
Nicky Cruz, the toughest, meanest, life-taking gang-banger in New York testified: "Well, I went back to my seat and I was thinking harder than I ever thought before. He (the preacher) started talking and it was all about the Holy Spirit. The preacher said the Holy Spirit could get inside people and make them clean. He said it didn't matter what they'd done, the Holy Spirit could make them start new, like babies. Suddenly, I wanted that so bad I couldn't stand it. It was as if I was seeing myself for the first time. All the filth and the hate and the foulness like pictures in front of my eyes."
" 'You can be different!' he said. 'Your life can be changed!"
"I wanted that, I needed that, but I knew it couldn't happen to me. The preacher told us to come forward if we wanted to be changed but I knew it was no use for me."
"Then Israel told us all to get up. 'I'm President,' he said, 'and this whole gang is going up there!'
"I was the first one at the rail. I kneeled down and said the first prayer of my life and this was it: 'Dear God, I'm the dirtiest sinner in New York. I don't think You want me. If You do want me, You can have me. As bad as I was before, I want to be that good for Jesus.'
"Later the preacher gave me a Bible and then I went home wondering if the Holy Ghost was really inside me, and how I would know. The first thing that happened, when I went in my room and shut the door I didn't feel scared. I felt like I had company in the room-not God or anyone like that, but the way I'd feel if my mother came back. "
"The next day everyone was staring because word had gone around that Nicky had religion. But another thing happened that made me know it was real. Little kids would always run when they saw me, but on that day, two little boys stared at me a minute and then they came right up to me. They wanted me to measure and see which one of them was taller-nothing important. Only I put my arms around them because I knew then I was different, even if it didn't show except to kids."
"Then, a few weeks later, a Dragon came up to me and he said, 'Is it true you don't carry weapons any more?' I told him it was true, and he pulled a ten-inch knife and went for my chest. I threw my hand up and caught the knife there. I don't know why, but he ran, and I stood there, looking at the blood coming from my hand. I remembered how blood always made me go crazy, but that day it didn't. Words came into my mind that I had read in my Bible, 'The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin.' I ripped my shirt and tied up my hand and from that day blood never bothered me."
Amazingly, Nicky had a terrible speech impediment but as he spoke, the straining, painful, stammering voice in which he had begun his story, had altered. Gradually the words came more readily, the sounds clearer, until he was speaking as distinctly and effortlessly as anyone in the room. Only now had Nicky himself realized it. He stood on the platform trembling, unable to go on, tears streaming down his face. Nicky Cruz went on to become one of Jesus' most humble servants and has since evangelized all over the world.
Ironically, I bought the book for a loved one that was in jail at the time. One of the world's troubled teens desperately searching for life's true meaning down a dark and scary path. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to receive any outside literature, so I started reading it. I'm so inspired by the author's story and his servant's heart. I so desire the Lord to place me where I'm needed the most. I so much want EVERYONE to know how precious they are to Him; how much pain and suffering our Lord went through so we could experience His unconditional love. My prayer is that I will be worthy of God's calling and discerning enough to hear His voice.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
The Socialist Barnyard
Once upon a time, on a farm in Virginia, there was a little red hen who scratched about the barnyard until she uncovered quite a few grains of wheat..
She called all of her Democrat neighbors together and said, 'If we plant this wheat, we shall have bread to eat. Who will help me plant it?''
Not I,' said the cow.
'Not I,' said the duck.
'Not I,' said the pig.
'Not I,' said the goose.
'Then I will do it by myself,' said the little red hen, and so she did.
The wheat grew very tall and ripened into golden grain.'Who will help me reap my wheat?' asked the little red hen.
'Not I,' said the duck.'Out of my classification,' said the pig.
'I'd lose my seniority,' said the cow.
'I'd lose my unemployment compensation,' said the goose.
'Then I will do it by myself,' said the little red hen, and so she did.
At last it came time to bake the bread.'Who will help me bake the bread?' asked the little red hen.
'That would be overtime for me,' said the cow.
'I'd lose my welfare benefits,' said the duck.
'I'm a dropout and never learned how,' said the pig.
'If I'm to be the only helper, that's discrimination,' said the goose.
'Then I will do it by myself,' said the little red hen.
She baked five loaves and held them up for all of her neighbors to see. They wanted some and, in fact, demanded a share. But the little red hen said, 'No, I shall eat all five loaves.
''Excess profits!' cried the cow. (Nancy Pelosi)
'Capitalist leech!' screamed the duck. (Barbara Boxer)
'I demand equal rights!' yelled the goose (Jesse Jackson)
The pig just grunted in disdain. (Ted Kennedy)
And they all painted 'Unfair!' picket signs and marched around and around the little red hen, shouting obscenities.Then a government agent came. He said to the little red hen, 'You must not be so greedy.''
But I earned the bread,' said the little red hen.
'Exactly,' said the agent. 'That is what makes our free enterprise system so wonderful. Anyone in the barnyard can earn as much as he wants. But under our modern government regulations, the productive workers must divide the fruits of their labor with those who are lazy and idle.'
And they all lived happily ever after, including the little red hen, who smiled and clucked, 'I am grateful, for now I truly understand.'
But her neighbors became quite disappointed in her.. She never again baked bread because she joined the 'party' and got her bread free. And all the Democrats smiled. 'Fairness' had been established. Individual initiative had died, but nobody noticed; perhaps no one cared...so long as there was free bread that 'the rich' were paying for.
Bill Clinton is getting $12 million for his memoirs..Hillary got $8 million for hers. That's $20 million for the memories from two people, who for eight years, repeatedly testified, under oath, that they couldn't remember anything.
IS THIS A GREAT BARNYARD OR WHAT?
She called all of her Democrat neighbors together and said, 'If we plant this wheat, we shall have bread to eat. Who will help me plant it?''
Not I,' said the cow.
'Not I,' said the duck.
'Not I,' said the pig.
'Not I,' said the goose.
'Then I will do it by myself,' said the little red hen, and so she did.
The wheat grew very tall and ripened into golden grain.'Who will help me reap my wheat?' asked the little red hen.
'Not I,' said the duck.'Out of my classification,' said the pig.
'I'd lose my seniority,' said the cow.
'I'd lose my unemployment compensation,' said the goose.
'Then I will do it by myself,' said the little red hen, and so she did.
At last it came time to bake the bread.'Who will help me bake the bread?' asked the little red hen.
'That would be overtime for me,' said the cow.
'I'd lose my welfare benefits,' said the duck.
'I'm a dropout and never learned how,' said the pig.
'If I'm to be the only helper, that's discrimination,' said the goose.
'Then I will do it by myself,' said the little red hen.
She baked five loaves and held them up for all of her neighbors to see. They wanted some and, in fact, demanded a share. But the little red hen said, 'No, I shall eat all five loaves.
''Excess profits!' cried the cow. (Nancy Pelosi)
'Capitalist leech!' screamed the duck. (Barbara Boxer)
'I demand equal rights!' yelled the goose (Jesse Jackson)
The pig just grunted in disdain. (Ted Kennedy)
And they all painted 'Unfair!' picket signs and marched around and around the little red hen, shouting obscenities.Then a government agent came. He said to the little red hen, 'You must not be so greedy.''
But I earned the bread,' said the little red hen.
'Exactly,' said the agent. 'That is what makes our free enterprise system so wonderful. Anyone in the barnyard can earn as much as he wants. But under our modern government regulations, the productive workers must divide the fruits of their labor with those who are lazy and idle.'
And they all lived happily ever after, including the little red hen, who smiled and clucked, 'I am grateful, for now I truly understand.'
But her neighbors became quite disappointed in her.. She never again baked bread because she joined the 'party' and got her bread free. And all the Democrats smiled. 'Fairness' had been established. Individual initiative had died, but nobody noticed; perhaps no one cared...so long as there was free bread that 'the rich' were paying for.
Bill Clinton is getting $12 million for his memoirs..Hillary got $8 million for hers. That's $20 million for the memories from two people, who for eight years, repeatedly testified, under oath, that they couldn't remember anything.
IS THIS A GREAT BARNYARD OR WHAT?
Friday, September 5, 2008
Bush...Africa's Hero
The Dems want the world to believe that Bush is an evil, war-mongering, unintelligent, oil-greedy president. I wonder if the liberal media has bothered to check out how the Africans feel about him. I found an amazing and insightful article in the Boston Globe.
Bush's enduring legacy in Africa
Boston Globe
With an 80 percent approval rating in many African countries, what is it that the Bush administration did differently in Africa than it did elsewhere?
Andrew Natsios
September 4, 2008
Andrew Natsios
"WHEN PRESIDENT BUSH traveled to sub-Sahara Africa in February he was greeted by large and tumultuous crowds of admirers - which mystified many of his critics, who believe that the animosity toward his administration abroad is universal. But polling data from the Pew Foundation shows something different: Approval ratings for the United States exceed 80 percent in many African countries, some with large Muslim populations. In Darfur, many families name their newborn sons George Bush.
What is it that the Bush administration did differently in Africa than it did elsewhere?
Certainly one factor is that Africa is not the Middle East or central Asia where America is fighting two unpopular wars and where polls show America at an all-time low in public esteem. In Sudan, the United States played a central role as peacemaker in ending a 20-year civil war between the Arab north and African south, which killed 2 million people.
It was the Bush administration that first raised the alarm about the atrocities in Darfur, organized a massive humanitarian relief effort to save people in the displaced camps, and rallied an international coalition to send peacekeeping troops to restore order through the United Nations and the African Union. While the civil war continues, casualties have declined and people are being fed by aid agencies, thanks to US government generosity, which may explain why Bush is so popular among the Africans in the camps. America has played an important role as mediator in Burundi, Liberia, Northern Uganda, Sierra Leone, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo after civil wars devastated all five countries. Administration policy in Africa has not been without its failures: its military campaign in Somalia has been an embarrassment, putting vulnerable people at risk.
However important these diplomatic efforts may be, Bush's enduring legacy in Africa rests on humanitarian and economic, not political, foundations. More than anything else it has been the revolution in the US government's development assistance that is responsible for Bush's popularity.
The Bush administration doubled foreign aid worldwide over the past eight years, the largest increase since the Truman administration, and used it to encourage poor countries to undertake political and economic reform. Total US government development aid to Africa alone has quadrupled from $1.3 billion in 2001 to more than $5 billion in 2008, and is scheduled to go to $8.7 billion in 2010, principally for education (primary school enrollment in Africa is up 36 percent since 1999), healthcare, building civil society, and protecting fragile environments.
Africa has received $3.5 billion in additional funds from Bush's Millennium Challenge Corporation initiative, which rewards poor countries that encourage economic growth, govern well, and provide social services for their people. The president's HIV/AIDS program, principally focused on providing Africans with anti-retroviral drugs to treat the disease (1.7 million people are on the therapy), has been such a success that the program has been extended to 2015 at $48 billion. His five-year, $1.2 billion effort to combat malaria has provided 4 million insecticide-treated bed nets and 7 million drug therapies to vulnerable people.
The Africa Growth and Opportunity Act, approved in 2000 and reauthorized in expanded form in 2004, provides trade benefits with the United States for 40 African countries that have implemented reforms to encourage economic growth. Since 2001, US exports to Africa have more than doubled to $14 billion a year, while African exports to the United States more than tripled to $67 billion, of which $3.4 billion has been in goods other than oil. USAID has provided more than $500 million in trade capacity building for poor countries to access international markets, which is the only way Africa will escape the poverty that has for too long oppressed the continent.
While Bush's critics have given him little credit for his African initiatives, they will be among his most enduring legacies in a region of the world neglected by policymakers from both parties for too long. Africans will long remember what Bush' critics have ignored."
Andrew Natsios is a professor in the practice of diplomacy at Georgetown University, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, and former administrator of the US Agency for International Development.
Bush's enduring legacy in Africa
Boston Globe
With an 80 percent approval rating in many African countries, what is it that the Bush administration did differently in Africa than it did elsewhere?
Andrew Natsios
September 4, 2008
Andrew Natsios
"WHEN PRESIDENT BUSH traveled to sub-Sahara Africa in February he was greeted by large and tumultuous crowds of admirers - which mystified many of his critics, who believe that the animosity toward his administration abroad is universal. But polling data from the Pew Foundation shows something different: Approval ratings for the United States exceed 80 percent in many African countries, some with large Muslim populations. In Darfur, many families name their newborn sons George Bush.
What is it that the Bush administration did differently in Africa than it did elsewhere?
Certainly one factor is that Africa is not the Middle East or central Asia where America is fighting two unpopular wars and where polls show America at an all-time low in public esteem. In Sudan, the United States played a central role as peacemaker in ending a 20-year civil war between the Arab north and African south, which killed 2 million people.
It was the Bush administration that first raised the alarm about the atrocities in Darfur, organized a massive humanitarian relief effort to save people in the displaced camps, and rallied an international coalition to send peacekeeping troops to restore order through the United Nations and the African Union. While the civil war continues, casualties have declined and people are being fed by aid agencies, thanks to US government generosity, which may explain why Bush is so popular among the Africans in the camps. America has played an important role as mediator in Burundi, Liberia, Northern Uganda, Sierra Leone, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo after civil wars devastated all five countries. Administration policy in Africa has not been without its failures: its military campaign in Somalia has been an embarrassment, putting vulnerable people at risk.
However important these diplomatic efforts may be, Bush's enduring legacy in Africa rests on humanitarian and economic, not political, foundations. More than anything else it has been the revolution in the US government's development assistance that is responsible for Bush's popularity.
The Bush administration doubled foreign aid worldwide over the past eight years, the largest increase since the Truman administration, and used it to encourage poor countries to undertake political and economic reform. Total US government development aid to Africa alone has quadrupled from $1.3 billion in 2001 to more than $5 billion in 2008, and is scheduled to go to $8.7 billion in 2010, principally for education (primary school enrollment in Africa is up 36 percent since 1999), healthcare, building civil society, and protecting fragile environments.
Africa has received $3.5 billion in additional funds from Bush's Millennium Challenge Corporation initiative, which rewards poor countries that encourage economic growth, govern well, and provide social services for their people. The president's HIV/AIDS program, principally focused on providing Africans with anti-retroviral drugs to treat the disease (1.7 million people are on the therapy), has been such a success that the program has been extended to 2015 at $48 billion. His five-year, $1.2 billion effort to combat malaria has provided 4 million insecticide-treated bed nets and 7 million drug therapies to vulnerable people.
The Africa Growth and Opportunity Act, approved in 2000 and reauthorized in expanded form in 2004, provides trade benefits with the United States for 40 African countries that have implemented reforms to encourage economic growth. Since 2001, US exports to Africa have more than doubled to $14 billion a year, while African exports to the United States more than tripled to $67 billion, of which $3.4 billion has been in goods other than oil. USAID has provided more than $500 million in trade capacity building for poor countries to access international markets, which is the only way Africa will escape the poverty that has for too long oppressed the continent.
While Bush's critics have given him little credit for his African initiatives, they will be among his most enduring legacies in a region of the world neglected by policymakers from both parties for too long. Africans will long remember what Bush' critics have ignored."
Andrew Natsios is a professor in the practice of diplomacy at Georgetown University, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, and former administrator of the US Agency for International Development.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Watch out DEMS...We got PALIN!
Sarah Palin...WOW! As I watched Palin give her speech last night at the RNC, I felt so proud to be an American, a Republican, a Christian and a woman. I got tears in my eyes when the cameras focused on the veterans in the audience, and specifically, one of McCain's cell mates at the Hanoi Hilton. I loved her quick wit and biting humor (and secretly hoped Obama, Biden or Clinton(s) were watching and perhaps felt a sting or two). I loved her precious-looking family, and her darling little girl holding her tiny baby brother (did you see her lick her hand to lay down his hair?). I loved how poised, calm, self-assured and intelligent she was. In essence, I'm blown away by her and I have to come clean: I've got a MAJOR girl-crush on Sarah Palin.
After almost two years of the liberal-biased media singing Obama's praises, we finally have someone to whom even they seem baffled by. I am on the edge of my seat, anxiously awaiting the debates. Hopefully, Biden will be packing some heat, because he's going to need it. Palin is no shrinking violet; although, she is quite the looker. This gives her an extreme advantage because it is exactly what men fear the most: a hottie with brains whose not afraid to use her "assets". You go, girl! You give them all you got...oh, and show a little cleavage while you're at it! :)
After almost two years of the liberal-biased media singing Obama's praises, we finally have someone to whom even they seem baffled by. I am on the edge of my seat, anxiously awaiting the debates. Hopefully, Biden will be packing some heat, because he's going to need it. Palin is no shrinking violet; although, she is quite the looker. This gives her an extreme advantage because it is exactly what men fear the most: a hottie with brains whose not afraid to use her "assets". You go, girl! You give them all you got...oh, and show a little cleavage while you're at it! :)
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Baby On Board
I have to admit, I'm excited about McCain's presumptive Vice President, Sarah Palin. The more I research, listen and read about her, the more I'm impressed. McCain needed to throw a curve ball, and boy, did he ever! I am PUMPED for the first time about the McCain ticket! I can finally support a woman candidate to whom holds sacred the values that I cherish. Sarah Palin, you're my kind of woman!
Amazingly, the liberals (who claim to be so non-judgmental and open-minded) are focusing on Palin's 17 year-old pregnant daughter! Some liberals are saying, "If Palin can't run her family, how can she run the country." Others are saying, "If Palin were for sex education in schools, this wouldn't have happened." Are you FREAKIN kidding me??? Have these people just recently received an upper lobotomy? Did they go from diapers to adulthood and skip their teens? I was raised in a Christian home, went to church, knew that pre-marital sex was wrong and STILL did it! Guess what liberal anti-Christian America...Christians aren't perfect. We don't claim to be. In fact, that's the whole point of Christianity! We know we are sinners and need a savior! Hence the whole Jesus-dying-on-the-cross-for-our-sins idea. It's amazing to me that Clinton, a married adult and NOT a 17-year-old, whom was the President of the United States, could receive oral sex underneath the oval office desk by a 21 year-old intern, received sympathy and pathetic excuses from his leftest counterparts...but Palin...she's quite the monster. She has a teenager that is sexually active and now has to grow up extremely fast because she chose to participate in an adult activity. That's it. End of story. Perhaps if Palin's daughter would have aborted the baby and chained herself to a tree in order to save it, she could have become a heroin to these people. Amazing the hypocrisy.
The older I get, the more I realize that ONLY God's mercy and grace can save us. We are all sinners; we are all imperfect; we are all dysfunctional. Perhaps politics would be better served if we ALL remember that he without sin should cast the first stone.
As for Palin...well, God be with you...you are going to need him.
Amazingly, the liberals (who claim to be so non-judgmental and open-minded) are focusing on Palin's 17 year-old pregnant daughter! Some liberals are saying, "If Palin can't run her family, how can she run the country." Others are saying, "If Palin were for sex education in schools, this wouldn't have happened." Are you FREAKIN kidding me??? Have these people just recently received an upper lobotomy? Did they go from diapers to adulthood and skip their teens? I was raised in a Christian home, went to church, knew that pre-marital sex was wrong and STILL did it! Guess what liberal anti-Christian America...Christians aren't perfect. We don't claim to be. In fact, that's the whole point of Christianity! We know we are sinners and need a savior! Hence the whole Jesus-dying-on-the-cross-for-our-sins idea. It's amazing to me that Clinton, a married adult and NOT a 17-year-old, whom was the President of the United States, could receive oral sex underneath the oval office desk by a 21 year-old intern, received sympathy and pathetic excuses from his leftest counterparts...but Palin...she's quite the monster. She has a teenager that is sexually active and now has to grow up extremely fast because she chose to participate in an adult activity. That's it. End of story. Perhaps if Palin's daughter would have aborted the baby and chained herself to a tree in order to save it, she could have become a heroin to these people. Amazing the hypocrisy.
The older I get, the more I realize that ONLY God's mercy and grace can save us. We are all sinners; we are all imperfect; we are all dysfunctional. Perhaps politics would be better served if we ALL remember that he without sin should cast the first stone.
As for Palin...well, God be with you...you are going to need him.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Happy Birthday, Rod
Rod's birthday is just days away, and after all these years together, I still don't know what to get him. You see, he's the worst person in the world to buy for because he's too practical. If he needs something, he buys it; if I get him something he doesn't need, he takes it back. Our taste in clothing is very different. I try to pick out a couple of shirts that I think he will like, but more times than not, he doesn't. If I ask him what he wants he usually says..."sleep". Perhaps I could sneak some sleeping pills in his glass of wine on Friday night and run out with the kids on Saturday morning for donuts...except...I kind of need him to finish the tile in the bathroom that he started last weekend...hmmm...such a dilemma. All I can say is: he better like those freakin shirts...
The REAL problem is that he's too handy, too hard-working and too much of a light sleeper. If he were just a lazy, good-for-nothing couch-potato of a husband then we wouldn't have this issue! Seriously, and I don't tell him this often enough (and he's probably not even reading my blog), but he's a really good guy. He works so hard for his family, would cut off his right arm for the boys' and he puts our wants, desires and needs way before his own. I love how he calms us (notice I'm saying "us" because I'm a little high-strung) all down...it's just his way. Even the kids know that Daddy can "fix" it and make it all better. Yep, he's got a big load on his shoulders and he carries it with ease...okay, sometimes, it gets a little heavy...but he does a MUCH better job than most people would. But the most amazing part is that after 12 1/2 years of marriage and 4 years of dating, he can still make me see stars! Oooweee!!!
So...it's his birthday, and although he'll probably take back the shirts I got him, I just wanted him to know...You're a good one and I plan on keeping you...oh, and I kind of love you too. :)
The REAL problem is that he's too handy, too hard-working and too much of a light sleeper. If he were just a lazy, good-for-nothing couch-potato of a husband then we wouldn't have this issue! Seriously, and I don't tell him this often enough (and he's probably not even reading my blog), but he's a really good guy. He works so hard for his family, would cut off his right arm for the boys' and he puts our wants, desires and needs way before his own. I love how he calms us (notice I'm saying "us" because I'm a little high-strung) all down...it's just his way. Even the kids know that Daddy can "fix" it and make it all better. Yep, he's got a big load on his shoulders and he carries it with ease...okay, sometimes, it gets a little heavy...but he does a MUCH better job than most people would. But the most amazing part is that after 12 1/2 years of marriage and 4 years of dating, he can still make me see stars! Oooweee!!!
So...it's his birthday, and although he'll probably take back the shirts I got him, I just wanted him to know...You're a good one and I plan on keeping you...oh, and I kind of love you too. :)
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