Mr. Freeze

So....Winter arrived this week. It snowed on Monday evening, and this was the scene Tuesday morning:

I am not the kind of person that enjoys pet-clothing. I don't think animals are supposed to wear sweaters or boots or pants or stuff, but man our dog is prissy. She does not enjoy the cold or the rain. So out of pure function we purchased a rain coat for Daisy, I was against it, butthen i remembered that we got her groomed just about 3 weeks ago and so her fur is shorter than usual, and the weather is also colder. So we decided to go ahead and get her a coat. I am not sure which Daisy dislikes more, the cold/wet weather or the coat. The first few times we put it on her should would not move. She wouldn't even come get a treat! She is adjusting now. Anyways this is her in the snow:



How is the weather elsewhere? Is it going to be a White Christmas? I am enjoying the cold (for now).

Election Day

So this is my 1st video blog:

Pro Life

I have decided that the term pro life is about as helpful as being pro-goodness. I am pro goodness. I think evil is wrong. Hooray for me, taking such a courageous stand. It seems to me that the term prolife means pro the life of the unborn. This seems a little short sided to me. Could I be pro second amendment if i said that every person has the right to own a musket. We are all gauranteed by the constitution one musket. Have all the other gun laws you want. but as long as a person is allowed a musket, just like the colonial militias had, then i am happy and believe that our right to bear arms has been protected. I feel like the NRA would not accept that. In fact they might shoot me.
This is my problem with prolife. They only seem to care about life until it breathes. Then once the baby breathes its on its own. Now i think abortion is bad. Its a tragic medical procedure and should be treated as such. I don't know that i can say that it should always be illeagal no matter what the circumstance is. I do know that it is a cruel form of birth control. But i also know that life extends beyond birth. I am 27 years of proof that life continues after conception and birth. I think most of americans want the number of abortions reduced. But i think we could do more by loving young mothers who face difficult times than by passing some law. Jesus cursed the pharisees for putting harsh laws on people then not raising a finger to help with the burden. Too often pro life arguments are only about laws which force women to brth their babies, but what percentage of pro life voters adopt, or foster children. What percentage of parents accept their daughters who get pregnant and don't cast them out as "sluts". I figure those percentages are low and thus abortions are high. Abortion is not a political issue, its an ethical issue. It is not the mothers choice, it is the community's choice to accept all children and commit to raising each one of them. You seem am not sure that voting for a "Prolife Canidate" could stop abortion. Bush had six years with a friendly congress and could not make any headway. But even beyond that point; life is more than just the issue of abortion. The problem of abrtion needs to fought on the demand side, not the supply side.
BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY:
Being PRO LIFE should mean caring about things like war, poverty, health care, the death penalty, etc. So yes, life begins at "conception" I guess but I KNOW that it extends beyond 9 months. Why do i feel like there are many pro lifers who support the death penalty. If that's not crazy I am not sure what is Pro-life and supports DEATH penalty? To be pro-life and not Pro ALL life is problematic. To ignore the AIDS Pandemic is what Pro-Choice. I choose to let them die. To not give everyone access to health care is tho be Pro-Choice, I choose my lower taxes over your heart condition. I call them pro choice because that is the opposite of Pro Life right?

Well anyways, I am trying to figure out how to be pro life. That means of children fetuses mothers prisoners immigrants, Muslims, Asians, Africans, Europeans, North and South Americans, Africans. In the mean time refuse to let the "Pro Life' movement tell me what that means. I will turn to God, breathed life into all of us. For i believe that means God defines pro-life.

Haunted House

So there have been people asking about our house. Here are some pics of our house decorated for halloween.

Living room:

Kitchen:

Hallway (duh):




Office:

Guest Bathroom:


Guest room:






Our room:



Stairway



Game Room:

October 6th

Well the cold weather has arrived. Last week we had at least 2 days where it did not reach 60 degrees. It is great. The morning are typically around 50 degrees and the high this week is about 80 degrees. For those of you in Texas. This is called autumn. Its magical!! Seriously, the weather is good.

Well Each year the Holston Conference has a large youth gathering called "Resurrection." It is just a large youth conference, with worship and stuff. But each district in the conference (there are about 12) can submit a group to perform during one of the worship times. So in the Fall, each district has a "Festival of gifts and talents" where people can present their gifts, and the district selects the group/individual that will represent them at Resurrection. Our FOGT was last night. It was at Wesley. The group chosen was from Wesley. We had a group of 6 girls perform a liturgical dance to Nicole C Mullen's "On My Knees." They were good. I was very happy for them. I saw them do their routine last week during our church service. UNtil then we didn't even have a group in the FOGT. So on Sunday, I saw them do it, and during the offering, i passed them a note saying, "Can yall do that next sunday night?" Luckily they could. I knew that we had a Youth Girls woprship team, but until last sunday did not even know they had anything they could do. So we lucked out and then stole the show.

A good day

Yesterday was good day.

I walked into my office to find an email telling me how a girl in our youth group had come home and told her mom that she enjoyed it. Her mom said that was the first time she had ever said that about church. She also told me that the daughter is excited about the Middle School Retreat I am planning. I suppose i could stop there and the day would be good. But it wasn't even lunch yet.
Speaking of lunch, i went to Sonic for a late lunch, which you might think is bad (that i had missed lunch earlier) but it was after 2pm so i got my drink half price!
Then i went right across the street from Sonic to the Salvation Army store, and found 3 board games for a total of 6 bucks. We are decorating our den with movie posters and things from Board games, so i had been looking at Thrift stores for games, but had come up empty handed until yesterday.
Our Wednesday meal was good. And so was our lesson. And then when we went to play in the gym, the kids requested Dodgeball Bowling, the game i made up on Sunday!

It was a good day.

Church and state

So I saw this story on usatoday:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/
2008-09-10-pulpit-IRS_N.htm

There are "liberal" church leaders encouraging the IRS to crack down on preachers who are endorsing candidates. Many of these preachers are supporting candidates at the encouraging of the Alliance Defense Fund (http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/main/default.aspx). The ADF wants the pastor to break the law so they can challenge it in court.

[I see this group as the twin brother of the ACLU. Though they each see each other as the evil twin.The ADF defends sanctity of life (though apparently not the lives of deathrow inmates) traditional families (is divorce becoming art of our tradition?) and religious freedom (right wing fundamentalist christian freedom apparently)]

The "liberals" claim that there should be a strict separation of church and state and that preachers should stay out of politics. The ADF thinks that preachers should be able to speak of biblical truth in all aspects of politics. I agree with the ADF desire to speak Biblical truth on everything, even politics (But I think their own theology keeps them from speaking the TRUTH more than the IRS ever will). I disagree with them if they think that they should be able to critic the government and point out where it fails to live up to God's calls for justice and still expect the government to give them a break on Taxes. You can have freedom of religion, thats a 1st amendment right. Freedom from taxes is not a right. Its part of deal the church made with the government. "You don't bother us and we won't tax your money."

SO really, i agree, and disagree with both sides of this case. The church should speak the truth of God, and if that means you have sall out the government even individual candidates then so be it. But be prepared to give unto caesar that which is Caesar's. The money in our collection plate has the Gov't name on it, so sometimes we might have to give the Gov't its money. Other times the Gov't may have a big dose of truth with its name on it and the church should be bold enough to give it to the Gov't as well.



I think the ADF and the church leaders opposed them need to have a talk and leave the IRS out of it. I also think the ADF is dumb. Sanctity of life....Sanctity of life you deem worthy is what you mean to say. What a bunch of hippocrites! They want to protest the war. They don't protest the death penalty. They do protest laws against demeaning the life homosexuals. Sanctity of a way life that looks like me!

"Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!"
-Jesus