A STORY ABOUT TODAY'S EVENTS

I just had the wildest ride! I was sitting here minding my own business when I heard a vehicle in the driveway. I go to the door and see a Honda SUV and it's making some noise and smoking. The girl yells and asks if she can park it smack in the middle of my driveway. I should have known right then something was wrong.

I told her she couldn't block me in and to roll it into the driveway further and so she did. She shut it off, got out, popped the hood, and steam rolled. I told her she was overheated. She asked for cables and I said, "why, won't it start again?"She said, "nope, if I shut it off it never starts again." Now, I've seen vehicles that are all to hell but it really seemed she shouldn't be on the road in this one. I look under the hood and the housing for the oil dip stick is just a gaping hole and there's oil blown all over the motor housing. I thought, 'what could possibly be so important that you'd go this far in a vehicle like this one?' I can think of only one non-emergency situation, drugs. She was pregnant...I was hoping I was wrong.

She goes around and opens the door and out pops a little puppy, scared and thin. She then lights a cigarette, which I gasped at, even though I'm well aware that ladies smoke during pregnancy...ignorant fools!! She makes a phone call with me standing there and then I ask, "do you need a ride on up the mountain to your destination?" She says, "yes please." She puts the puppy back into the broken down vehicle and reassures me she just needs to go up a short distance and then she'll have achieved her goal and can come back down to the puppy. I drive her up to a house with two running vehicles waiting in the driveway, and many people running around. My first impression? Drug house.

True to her word, she is in and out and claiming to have retrieved a memory card for a camera. I'm sure she's lying, but rather has retrieved drugs...likely pills of some kind. We return to my house and I get the jumper cables out, fill her radiator with water, check her oil but have none to put in for her. She begins turning the motor over and water just blasts out from around the radiator cap. I'm yelling for her to, "Wait....wait...wait!!" but she's cranking it to death. She finally stops turning it over long enough to hear me explain that it's out of oil and we shouldn't continue to try running it for fear of it locking up. That's when she says,"my papaw is gonna kill me, he's just gonna kill me." I got the distinct impression she had done something wrong and it wasn't about the car breaking down.

We begin making plans to get her home as I offer to drive her to her house so she can find someone to retrieve the vehicle but I tell her it shouldn't be driven if she can't determine what's wrong with it. She makes another phone call and whoever she's talking to gets her wrath instead of her humility. She finally barks at the person on the other end of the line, "WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO THEN!!" She establishes that she'll meet that person at the store at the base of the mountain and hangs up. She asks to use my restroom but I felt very unsure of letting her into my house. By this time, I'm sure she's not an honest person and is highly likely to be on drugs of some kind, despite the precious life she's carrying in her womb (and the puppy with her, which is still jumping from front seat to back seat of the broke down vehicle).

We come in and I'm thinking, 'she'll just pee and we'll go.' She was in there for so long that I finally came to the door and asked if she needed me to send in a rescue party. She chuckled from behind the door and said, "sorry honey, I'm pregnant and constipated." It was odd because she flushed the toilet twice. I have nothing in that bathroom to steal except perfumed soap and facial moisturizer so if she was pilfering, she was left disappointed. However, my medicine cabinet door was slid open when I went in behind her later. By now, I'm considering calling the police and having her searched for drugs. I'm also worried that perhaps she was shooting up in my bathroom.

We went out to leave and she got the puppy out of the car and slid him into a pillow case, which I handed her because his little feet were muddy. This took her an incredible amount of time. She seemed unable to focus on a task, unable to understand my words, and unable to complete a motion without something sidetracking her. I'm telling her in a rough tone that I have to go (I just wanted rid of her) and get back to my life. It's odd because she felt no indignation at being dismissed by someone nor was she in any way feeling urgency to get out of my life.

I drove her to the store to meet the person she called and they arrived as I did...good! I said my goodbyes, reminded her that my landlord would have the vehicle towed if it was left more than 24 hours on my property and she exited the vehicle with a sideways, "thanks for your help."

I made a bee line for my house and within minutes, she was again knocking on my door! "Can I use your cables again?" I got my jacket and keys and out the door with a sigh I went. I came outside to find an old lady, her hair flying all over the place and a gravely angry voice, yelling at the young lady about pills. She was yelling back, "Shut up mamma " the mother was yelling, "No! I will not shut up, Mariah!" The two were bickering incessantly while hooking the jumper cables from the mother's car to the broke down vehicle, which now had a kindly old gentlemen just sitting in it waiting patiently for the women to do the work. I wondered if he was hen pecked by this abrasive old woman, who took authority over both vehicles as well as both people.

The vehicle roared to life and the old woman started shouting orders, "I'll follow you Don because it's probably gonna break down....Mariah, get in the car and don't touch mine....if you tear my car up...you don't know what you're doing, don't touch those cables or you'll mess up my computer chip..." yackety yack and blahblahblah. I could only think of the unborn child which soon would be born into that family.  

I warned the mother that the vehicle was dry of oil but she wasn't concerned. She turned to me and said, "thanks for your help...she has no driver's license and stole this car out of our driveway knowing it wouldn't go far." I knew immediately that I had taken her to a drug house, for pills most likely.

This whirlwind of a story ends with them leaving in the vehicle as I and my new wolf dog friend (who showed up during the commotion and stayed faithfully at my side) watched them go (with a sigh of relief). I thought of the girl's mother yelling mercilessly at her and thought that her childhood must have been hell with that woman. I said a silent prayer for the baby she's carrying. The child will likely be born with drugs in his/her system and will be just another statistic. 

I did what I could for this young lady but for every second that passed with her in my presence, my level of disgust rose. I was disgusted by her smoking while pregnant, stealing that car from an old man, putting her mother through the hell she was going through, obviously doing drugs while pregnant, and just generally adding to this world's problems.

May we each be a part of the solutions and not a part of the problems! 

JUST WONDERING

Dear Evolution,

If I evolved from an amoeba, then why do I have a conscious? Why would you give me something which causes me to pause before I act? If you gave an alligator a conscious, he would starve to death, same for a lion. They can't feed themselves if they have a conscious. I mean, have you seen how they behave when a baby deer wonders too close to the edge of the pond?

✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿

Dear Atheist,

If there is no God, then why can I not remain in my sin? If there's no God then what is the thing inside my soul that pulls me away from the things I know are wrong. Why is there no amount of rationalizing or justifying that allows me to comfortably continue down that path of doing wrong? With so many cultures and beliefs around the world, how do I instinctively know what is right and wrong? You say it's a conscious? Well, why would I need that if I'm just a product of an evolutionary process? I mean, if I was an alligator with a conscious, I would starve to death....oh wait...I think I've heard that somewhere before. <shrugs>

✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿

Dear God,

With all the miracles of nature, all the inner parts of the human psyche and the spark of spirit inside every living being, how could I ever doubt that you exist? If you don't exist, then why do we bother with love? Why don't we just remain in a state of instinctual behavior...feeding and breeding, death and the births that replace those who have died?

✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿

To your right is a documentary I chose out of many that can be found with David Attenborough, one of our world's greatest teachers of the planet and the life on it. This is an awesome video that shows many of the animals that we have here on our "Pale Blue Dot" (an allusion to Carl Sagan and the prior post). The animals that live on this planet each seem to be able to do something that the other species cannot. It's as if each one was deliberately hand made to perform it's specific task and each task has the purpose of keeping the planet clean and free from being over run with either plant species or animal species.

If you like nature programs and you're curious about what's going on in the Himalayas, this video will satisfy your needs. Grab a snack and relax as David Attenborough effectively and somewhat humorously explains the life on our planet in at least one little corner of it. I hope you are able to revel in the design of our greatest artist, our God!

THOUGHTS OF A GRIEVING PARENT

This is how one parent who lost his daughter to a school shooting feels about God being removed from our schools, prayer being prohibited, guns being blamed for the actions of people. I've added the video excerpt from Carl Sagan's "Pale Blue Dot" as a reminder of who we are, how insignificant we are in this vast and mighty universe, and how foolish we as humans can be. We can be power hungry and selfish creatures who have somehow forgotten the most important thing about being who we are, which to me is love:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

"Since the dawn of creation there has been both good &evil in the hearts of men and women. We all contain the seeds of kindness or the seeds of violence. The death of my wonderful daughter, Rachel Joy Scott, and the deaths of that heroic teacher, and the other eleven children who died must not be in vain. Their blood cries out for answers.The first recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his brother Abel out in the field. The villain was not the club he used.. Neither was it the NCA, the National Club Association. The true killer was Cain, and the reason for the murder could only be found in Cain's heart.
In the days that followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed at how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the NRA. I am not a member of the NRA. I am not a hunter. I do not even own a gun. I am not here to represent or defend the NRA - because I don't believe that they are responsible for my daughter's death. Therefore I do not believe that they need to be defended. If I believed they had anything to do with Rachel's murder I would be their strongest opponent
I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy -- it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us to look at where the real blame lies! Much of the blame lies here in this room. Much of the blame lies behind the pointing fingers of the accusers themselves. I wrote a poem just four nights ago that expresses my feelings best. 

Your laws ignore our deepest needs,
Your words are empty air.
You've stripped away our heritage,
You've outlawed simple prayer.
Now gunshots fill our classrooms,
And precious children die.
You seek for answers everywhere,
And ask the question "Why?"
You regulate restrictive laws,
Through legislative creed.
And yet you fail to understand,
That God is what we need!

"Men and women are three-part beings. We all consist of body, mind, and spirit. When we refuse to acknowledge a third part of our make-up, we create a void that allows evil, prejudice, and hatred to rush in and wreak havoc. Spiritual presences were present within our educational systems for most of our nation's history. Many of our major colleges began as theological seminaries. This is a historical fact. 
What has happened to us as a nation? We have refused to honor God, and in so doing, we open the doors to hatred and violence. And when something as terrible as Columbine's tragedy occurs -- politicians immediately look for a scapegoat such as the NRA. They immediately seek to pass more restrictive laws that contribute to erode away our personal and private liberties. We do not need more restrictive laws. 
Eric and Dylan would not have been stopped by metal detectors. No amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends months planning this type of massacre. The real villain lies within our own hearts. 

"As my son Craig lay under that table in the school library and saw his two friends murdered before his very eyes, he did not hesitate to pray in school. I defy any law or politician to deny him that right! I challenge every young person in America , and around the world, to realize that on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School prayer was brought back to our schools. Do not let the many prayers offered by those students be in vain. Dare to move into the new millennium with a sacred disregard for legislation that violates your God-given right to communicate with Him. 

To those of you who would point your finger at the NRA -- I give to you a sincere challenge.. Dare to examine your own heart before casting the first stone! 
My daughter's death will not be in vain! The young people of this country will not allow that to happen!"
- Darrell Scott 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This next part was written by my friend in reply to the post itself and I wanted to add what he said below. This sentence is the only thing I wrote in this post.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"A Poem Presented To Congress 
by the father of a columbine victim's 
father. 
People with an atheistic mind set have made it clear
they want no part of God. 
They've chase Him out of every nook and cranny
And God being the loving Father He is has 
complied with their wishes. And the first thing they do in 
the face of tragedy is yell where is your God now.
The Atheistic mind set gives no hope to the vast majority.
To say we are no more that a electro static charge on the
neuro pathways of our sub atomic particulate brains, that we 
have no real control over anyways. Leaves people without
hope.
 There is a God who has a Son and He is coming soon.
You don't know anything about Him because you truly
don't want to know. You think you know something because
of stuff you heard from others who have heard from
others. You choose to believe any historic fact except  biblical
fact. Which coincides with all historical fact. 
Who would want to live in a world with no hope, well slowly but 
surly they are making themselves known"
                                                        -Edward W.

IS IT PROPHECY?

This is rather prophetic, don't you think? Click the link, and you'll see the photograph but below that is the article and then below that is some video of the ocean turning red. It's actually an influx of algae. In Biblical times, descriptions of a prophecy were often given in terms that were metaphoric as the one prophesying was meant to simply give the message, not explain with scientific detail of what the process is that occurs to cause the images they convey. Saying, "...and the seas will turn to blood" doesn't necessarily mean that their structure is that of human blood or otherwise, but simply that the images the prophesier sees are of water in the form of blood or what appears to be such. Isaiah once prophesied of the bird with the steel breast plate, which I believe were jets of our time. I have final exams and am in quite the rush, forgive any mistakes in detail or facts I've written down. I'm sure one of my commenters will correct me. He usually does, LOL.

Anyway, without further adieu, here's the link:

Australian beach 

"KEEP YOUR HATE, ATHEIST"

Now I'm just mad!!! I'm not even going to start this post with anything except my feelings. I'm sick and tired of people who don't believe in God making it their life's mission to destroy the faith and hope that those of us who do believe have. It's their very mission to tell a believer how ignorant and wrong they are! Based on what? Their own belief. Now how's that for a fine how-do-ya-do? So let's see...how's it work? Oh ya, they open their Buddha book, their Pagan ritual books, their ScienceNow magazine and read from that to tell us how the book we're reading from is wrong but theirs is all about the truth. "Man made this and man made that" they say, "man made religion you fool," they say. And I would argue that "man made your magazine and your Buddha god that sits there without the ability to help itself!"

See, I'm a Christian...I believe there's a God who made me in a fearfully wonderful way. But since the man-made notion of evolution was created by man, they say that that makes my faith man-made and therefore, all wrong. How astounding is it that they can't see their own contradictions? And I would ask any Atheist,..."tell us all about your life-after-death experience. Tell us Atheist..oh mighty knower of all things, tell us all about the God you never saw when you never died and never saw what's to come." 99.99% have never had a near death experience and have nothing to base their beliefs on. You know all those stories documented of people who have died and came back to tell us what they saw? Guess what they all saw? Heaven..God. You're probably not going to find one Atheist's life-after-death account where the Atheist died, saw hell, and came back to live the same exact way. When you find one, send me the link to his/her story please. I would dare say, I might be waiting awhile for that information. See, life after death is God and He's GOING to make sure we see Him there so we can live to tell others the truth and give the world hope. 

I'm also astonished at how many will say such rude things to Christians they've never met before and have no knowledge of what that Christian's life's experiences have been but have enough imagined knowledge to tear that Christian's faith and hope down to the ground. For what?! Pleasure? Do they feel they're saving the world from that pesky notion of hope and faith? They've never lived our lives and have never experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit but they have friends that believe like they do so that must make them right and us wrong. 

Their general lack of respect for me as a believer is outrageous! They cling to their beliefs while sitting back on their high and mighty laurels telling me how wrong I am for having mine! I'm more than allowed to cling stubbornly to whatever I want to cling to in order to get through this crappy life.  

I have been touched by God Himself...like most Christians. I was baptized in His Spirit and felt His presence and can attest with 100% certainty that there's a force on this side of eternity that isn't from this world. A force that can punch a hole into our time and bathe us in it's presence. Can your Buddha do that? Can your life's partner do that? Can your loving devoted parents do that? Can the birth of a child or a big stash of money do that? NOPE. That's because man-made items can't do anything but temporarily satisfy a physiological, emotional, or physical need and then once it's satisfied another need will replace it. That doesn't sustain anyone. But with God, there's a constant presence of peace that sustains us. How do we explain that? We really can't. We can try but we really can't explain it to people with closed minds and blackened hearts. They don't want to know the truth and therefore nothing we tell them will resemble truth to them. Those with eyes to see will see. Those seeking will find.

Look, all I'm saying to the world is that we're all in this thing together. I don't intend on strangling you with God so don't try to pull Him out of me and stomp Him to death with your unbelief. If you die having never believed in God and find that He was real all along, you're the one that has to face that eternity. But if you believed on this side and die to find He never existed, what did it hurt for you to believe throughout your life? It hurt nothing and no one. It was a blessing to the world through the love you shared, the gifts you gave, the general spirit of benevolence that knowing God inspires you to show. How is any of that wrong or bad to the degree that if you don't accept it, it's your mission to kill it as dead as you can? Just let people love other people and call it the Spirit of Christ. Let them!!!! Stop working to kill good. You don't have to agree, just accept that some of us believe in this and we like it this way. Go about your business and let us go about our business of loving people like you. Would you rather the world be void of love and sincerity? Void of the things that give us the strength to overcome? That's what you're doing when you work to destroy it. You're working for the wrong people. People that hate, are angry, and strive to destroy the spiritual things inside another human heart. It's pointless to do that! I compare the Atheist agenda to a destructive storm. It moves in and wipes all that was built off the place it was built upon (for the weak-minded who are vulnerable to false doctrine and hate). It sows doubt and misery in it's place...and weeds begin to grow which choke out the message of hope. How does that sound like a right and good thing to spread to the rest of society? I don't know about anyone else, but I ask you to keep your agenda away from me, because what you do is hurt people and destroy hope for no other reason except so that you can walk away and pat yourself on the back for convincing an innocent to hate like you do. May God forgive your soul!