10 Rules for a Happy New Year

I liked these!

Timothy Satryan of Wilmington First Assembly of God offers ten rules to make 2007 truly a happy new year!

1. Today I will not strike back
If someone is rude; if someone is impatient; if someone is unkind . . . I will not respond in like manner.

2. Today I will ask God to bless my "enemy"
If I come across someone who treats me harshly or unfairly, I will quietly ask God to bless that individual. I understand the "enemy" could be a family member, neighbor, co-worker or stranger.

3. Today I will be careful about what I say
I will carefully choose and guard my words, being certain that I do not spread gossip, slander or malign anyone in any way.

4. Today I will go the extra mile
I will find ways to help share the burden of another person. I will find ways to make life more pleasant.

5. Today I will forgive
I will forgive any hurts or injuries that come my way. (I will also work to forgive injuries that have been inflicted upon me in the past)

6. Today I will do something nice for someone, but I will do it secretly
I will reach out anonymously and bless the life of another person.

7. Today I will treat others as I wish to be treated
I will practice the golden rule -- do unto others as you would have them do unto you -- with everyone I encounter.

8. Today I will raise the spirits of someone who is discouraged
My smile, my words, my expression of support, can make the difference to someone who is wrestling with life.

9. Today I will nurture my body
I will eat less; I will eat only healthy foods; I will thank God for my body.

10. Today I will grow spiritually
I will spend a little more time in prayer today; I will begin reading something spiritual or inspirational today; I will find a quiet place (at some point during this day) and listen to God's voice!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving all!

I have no clue if anyone read this, but I figured I'd wish you a Happy Thanksgiving if you do!

Is this...

Is this funny or mean?

http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3Dm9A_vxIOB-I%26NR

The Giants

The Giants stink this year.

Now I feel better.

Rush Limbaugh

To me the most lasting thing of the previous campaign was Rush Limbaugh doing an impersonation of Michael J. Fox's Parkinson's disease and claiming it was an 'act' on Fox's part.

I watched the video of this. Limbaugh is gross in what he did.

About a year ago I saw Fox on a TV talk show and was shocked by his obvious physical deterioration. It was and is so sad to see a young talented man so devastated by this disease.

Limbaugh's response was not the low road. This was a pig pen act on his part. But not the pigs. Under the manure, under the mud, and under more manure did Limbaugh crawl out from and pronounce himself to the world for what has to be the most blatently and obviously disgusting gesture by any commentator on anything.

I think it is amazing that the #1 spokesperson for the "family values" and "morality" right, has been married and divorced 3 times, has no children, is a bigot, is an admitted drug-addict, (except for his money) should be in jail for committing a felony, and takes Viagra with him on a vacation to a spot that is world-known for legal prostitution where many are underage.

All of this and he commands the largest radio audience in the nation and people hang on his every word.

Why?

Here's my question

Here's my question. How do you feel about the current campaigns.

Jerry Abramson has no threats and he's been running the standard 'feel good' stuff. Fine.

Richard Lugar, same thing. Great.

Baron Hill and Mike Sodrel. Give me a break. Who else is running?

Anne Northrup and John Yarmuth. She's running her usual attack and smear ads. Grainy photos, comments out of context, etc. Standard stuff. It's worked for her. Funny thing is that she has pretty much avoided any discussion of policy.

Yarmuth is interesting. He seems to be egging her on to discuss issues. She won't bite. We'll see how mean he choooses to get.

Random Thoughts on the news

Some random thoughts on the news.

I have always been fascinated by the Amish and I do respect them a great deal. I don't agree with them on a great deal and I certainly don't want to be Amish, but I do respect them a lot.

As I watched the stories on the school shootings in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, an area I am very familiar with, I grieved for these people. Our children watch TV and are familiar with violence. I'm guessing that by the time a child reaches adolescence they have seen hundred of people killed on TV and in the movies. The violence of society seems almost commonplace.

For these Amish children, this was like lambs being led to slaughter. They did not know what was going on. They do not watch TV or go to the movies and most of these children have never seen anyone murdered. They are a gentle, complient people. These poor little girls probably didn't even know enough to run away. It is such a sad story, filled with shattered innocence and destructive to a peaceful people.

Which brings me further stories on shattered innocence.

Mark Foley, from Florida, a member of the family values crowd.

In the closet gay man. He can't come out of the closet because he's a member of the family values crowd.

He reaches out to young pages on Capitol Hill. Young people, American youth who have a rare opportunity to work for the members of Congress. Parents let their sons and daughters go to Washington DC. Certainly their sons and daughters would be safe from such nonsense working in Congress, wouldn't they? Most especially from a family values Congressman from Florida. Makes my blood boil.

Many of the people who elected these family values folks are upset. They wanted good family values, not a Congressman hitting on their children. They expected Congressional leadership to live what they were preaching; to walk the walk that they were talking...

It is a day of shattered innocence.

What to do during a boring sermon!

Fun things to do during a boring sermon

Pass a note to the organist asking whether he/she plays requests.

See if a yawn really is contagious.

Slap your neighbor. See if they turn the other cheek. If not, raise
your hand and tell the preacher.

Devise ways of climbing into the balcony without using the stairs.

Listen for your preacher to use a word beginning with 'A' then 'B and
so on through the alphabet.

Sit in the back row and roll a handful of marbles under the pews ahead
of you. After the service, credit yourself with 10 points for every marble
that made it to the front.

Using church bulletins or visitor cards for raw materials, design, test
and modify a collection of paper airplanes.

Start from the back of the church and try to crawl all the way to the
front, under the pews, without being noticed.

Raise your hand and ask for permission to go to the rest room.

Whip out a hankie and blow your nose. Vary the pressure exerted on your
nostrils and trumpet out a rendition of your favorite hymn.

Chew gum; if the sermon goes on for more than 15 minutes, start blowing
bubbles.

Try to indicate to the minister that his fly is undone.

By unobtrusively drawing your arms up into your sleeves, turn your
shirt around backwards.

Does the Gospel of Judas Matter?

Does the Gospel of Judas Matter?

Short answer. No.

The Gospel of Judas is a Coptic Gospel which has recently been in the news. It seems to indicate that Judas didn't really betray Jesus, but did what he did at Jesus' bidding so that everything would go off as 'planned.'

Several points. We have Four Gospels in the Bible. Most credible scholars agree that Mark was written first, and using Mark, Matthew and Luke added to the story. John wrote a different version later on. The early church, in the formation of the Bible, essentially came up with creedal statements and chose the four Gospels we have now out of many

Many people are amazed to learn that there were many 'gospels,' or books which claimed to be or called themselves "gospels." Only four, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were decreed by the early Christian Church to be inspired and only four are in the Bible.

This means that only four of the Gospels were:

Complete.

And consistent with early Christian thinking.

The rejected gospels might not have been complete and were often inconsistent with the early church. Most of them, like the Gospel of Judais, were Gnostic in theology and were rejected.

Does the Gospel of Judas Matter? No, not really. It's interesting to read other insights into Jesus from that era----it's certainly enlightening, and it demonstrates to us that differences of opinion are timeless, but, for the average person, the Gospel of Judas is not something to stress out about.

Jesus was difficult

Jesus was difficult.

When discussing Jesus people seem to invariably disagree on key issues. There are certain qualities of Jesus, however, which seem to be apparent.

For one, Jesus was difficult. Jesus had dramatic moments with Pharisees and many people in the Jewish leadership which were, in a word, ugly. Jesus was harsh to many of these people. His premise was that they were often self-righeous and tended to put restrictions on people almost for the sheer joy of putting restrictions on people. Plus there was the 'trashing' of the Temple. And his interaction with Pilate wasn't, frankly, politically adept. Jesus was difficult.

Secondly, Jesus was honest. We, as a culture, don't always appreciate honesty. We prefer a more 'diplomatic' solution to things. Or, we like being mean and engaging in ad hominem attacks. We don't however, usually appreciate people who are dead on honest. They make us nervous. People tend, with each and every President we have, to try to demonstrate that there was Presidential lying. I mean, duh. The fact that we presume or want them to be honest doesn't mean that they will be.

Jesus was also a pretty rough teacher. The apostles spend a lot of time being 'corrected' often pretty aggressively by Jesus. We tend to want to laugh at their ineptitude; but I wonder how many of us would have made out listening to Jesus preach and teach and trying to comprehend what he had to say.

To summarize this, all I can say is this: Jesus was difficult.

Jesus

Jesus. We had a clergy meeting the other day and discussed Jesus. Who would have ever thought this----a group of clergy talking about Jesus.

We often think about Jesus of Nazareth who walked the earth 2000 years ago, taught, performed miracles, died on the cross, etc.

We often ponder the Jesus of our day. The one who came forth from the tomb and lives among us now.

The difficult is, at times, reconciling the Jesus who lived and the Jesus who lives. On this topic, I'm going to be making a lot of posts.