Now, go read Dory's post at Wittenburg Gate, Dory says it better than I could.
A Christian Bohemian Packrat shares a few of the ideas he has managed to collect over the years...
Thursday, March 31, 2005
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
All I want is a couple days off
I've been working for the Current Employer 6 months now, and I'd only taken 1 day of vacation, primarily because of Number 1 Son's illness consuming most of December. The whole family has been trucking along without much of a break since then (even homeschool started up at full speed in January), so by last week EVERYONE was tired. Current Employer requires that vacation be accumulated, but lets you keep it for up to 2 years (the Previous Employer would let you spend it ahead, but at December 31, it was gone no matter what), so I've finally saved up enough time to take a few days off.
The siding guy will be done today, excluding the 1 (!) piece of siding that Champion underordered, and I'll have screen doors at 1. I'm also going to be reattaching the Dish Network dishes in a few minutes. Somehow, my father and mother, who live about 40 miles out of Lexington, can get good TV reception with just rabbit ears, while we (who live much closer to all of the local towers) can't even get the locals with an outdoor antenna. Dish Network offered a cheap local-only package that lets us keep access to the pay-per-view movies and our Digital Video Recorder too, so Milady took it. We like to record our pay-per-views, and it's cheaper than our usual "rent it for two days, then forget to return it for two more" habits.
I even got my first silly comment yesterday (see this link). I considered deleting it, but then I realized that it was proof someone other than the search engines were reading me, and it helped my ego just a bit. It's sorta like when Johnny Fever had to be the early-morning guy on WKRP: "Is anybody really listening?" :)
Monday, March 28, 2005
I didn't think I had any more tears
Lord, we trust in you, and we know that you control all. Please, Lord, use this situation to your will, and forgive us that we have allowed this to happen.
Sunday, March 27, 2005
Lessons to learn from Terri Schindler Schiavo
First, and most importantly, do not be yoked unequally. Moses instructed the Jewish nation to not marry outside of the nation, to keep from being drawn away to other Gods. Solomon extols the virtues of a Godly spouse. Paul made it clear that Christians were only to marry other Christians. It is not possible to make it any clearer, yet time and time again Christians marry non-Christians and suffer for it. God gives us instructions for a reason: they work.
Based on the little information I can gather, I doubt that Michael Schiavo has any relationship with Jesus Christ. Even if we discount the evidence that Michael caused direct harm to Terri, it's clear that his opinions on the sanctity of life and marriage are drastically different than the one that the Schindlers hold, and the one the Schindlers believe Terri held.
Milady and I have had our share of marital troubles, and had we not both been Christians and both been completely dedicated to our marriage, we might well not be married now. We still have out disagreements, especially about politics, but we have a strong marriage because of our shared faith in God.
As parents it is important to help control who our children are around. Christians have accepted the lie that parents have little place in controlling who who their child hangs out with, dates, or marries. I remember the "anti-drug" commercials where the mother allows her child to go out with multiple face piercings, pseudo-Goth dress, etc.
Poppycock! It is a parent's job to set guidelines and help their children know who to hang around with and who would be good spouse material. If Michael Schiavo is as abusive as it has been alleged, then there were probably signs even before the marriage. Terri's mother should have been telling her oh-so-gently to leave him, and her father should have been giving Michael some completely-unsubtle signs to leave her alone.
The law and the courts are not our friend, and never will. Jesus told us to settle any dispute before you get to court. Paul pointed out that it was a shame on us and a shame on God for two Christians to face each other in public court. Christians, it's time for us to exit the court systems and use binding arbitration to settle our own disputes. Christian jurists, if you can't apply God's commandments to a ruling, you must recluse yourself or leave the bench. We must all keep striving for Christian laws, but realize that Satan is still the prince of this world (temporarily, praise God!), and that every tool of this world we can use for good, he can use for evil. We must rely on the Holy Spirit to make our fight in this world.
More points as I have time to blog.
Sometimes its the simplest stuff
The cats had knocked the vent pipe for the dryer off the wall, and the dryer had been venting straight into the room. We have a 2 year old dryer, so it's really good at drying clothes. The walls and the cabinets were wet. I felt like there should have been a hot rock to pour water on.
Up goes the window, and its companions in the family room, to clear the air. Since the bui lder was too cheap to do the vent right, I have to stick my fat hands through a small opening in the drywall to put the vent hose back on. That takes forever, in the cold wind coming from outside, and the sauna on the inside.
I finally have it back on, and the window's still open to help clear the last of the moisture out of the air.
It's amazing how the Lord can use even the most mundane of things to set your life back into perspective.
Judge Greer's Dilemma - And Why I Have No Sympathy For It
a conservative Christian and longtime Republican known for an easy mannerOne of Judge Greer's friends says:
"The people in that church should be ashamed of themselves, to demonize George and to ask him to leave for doing his job, for upholding the law," [Mary Repper] said. "To me, that was the most offensive thing that has happened so far.""Just doing your job" is no defense for disobeying God's law. God's law says that the weak and the innocent who are too weak to defend themselves are to be defended. It doesn't matter what man's law says, God's commandments are to be obeyed.
If Judge Greer could not find a way to apply Florida law under the requirements of God's commandments, t hen he should have immediately resigned. To say "I just followed the law" is no excuse. Period.
One group I respect is Judge Greer's church. His pastor followed the Biblical approach of privately rebuking a member for non-Christian behavior, and then publically ending that person's membership if there is no repentance. Judge Greer may have chosen to leave, but it is not "demonizing" as Ms. Repper stated. Judge Greer disobeyed God's law. When a Christian does so unrepentantly, it is the local congregation's obligation to tell the unrepentant to leave.
Saturday, March 26, 2005
Darkest before the dawn
Perhaps tomorrow will find the Schindlers blessed with an Easter miracle, or perhaps tomorrow is the day when Terri wins all by losing here. I don't know. I just trust in the God that turned that dark, stinking tomb into our blessed hope.
Friday, March 25, 2005
Is the Republic worth saving? And at what cost?
I feel the same problem that reasonable men felt when John Brown formented revolution in the 1850s. John Brown was a terrorist who used wrong means to try to bring about the right conclusion.The United States of 2005 is in the same condition as the United States of 1858: we are an immoral society hiding behind the rule of law. In 1858, the Supreme Court ruled that a black man was property, and had no right to determine his own fate under US law. In 2005, the United States court systems have ruled that Terri Schiavo is legally "unalive", and is therefore has no standing to express her own wishes under US law.
The Civil War occured because this nation had become so corrupted by the taint of slavery that the legally correct side (the South) was the morally bankrupt one. Our society ha s become so tainted by the corruption of abortion and "the right to not be inconvenienced" (abortion, right to die, freedom from religion, etc.) that the legally right side has too become morally bankrupt.
It may be that actions by either of the Bush brothers or Congress to save Terri Schiavo are illegal. It may be that Terri Schiavo has to die to save our legal system. It may be that abortion as birth control has to continue to keep the order of 9 dictators in black robes. But, at what cost? Is an immoral society following its own rules right? In the Civil War, we said no. At Nuremburg, the world said no. Do we reject that now?
In 2005, we are ALREADY under the tyrany of the judiciary. The question before the US now, do we continue to allow "legal" murder, just like we allowed legal slavery 150 years ago, or do we take a stand now?
As Lincoln said, it is more important that we are sure that we are on God's side. Are we?
Short post on Terri
On further thought though, there is a major - and I mean a major - exception. If Schiavo has shown any desire upon being in that condition to live - any whatsoever - then the words that she spoke in the time when she was healthy should be ignored.Go read the entire article.
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Call for prayer for Mrs. Queen
Morning notes
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has refused the appeal for Terri (hattip: Wittenburg Gate). I can't say that this is not unexpected. The court's opinion is here. As I expected, it states prominantly that we are a nation of laws. Yes, we are. So was 1940s Germany. That didn't stop Nuremburg, and the rule of law doesn't mean it's not murder now, either. At least one judge had the courage to say that there was no real harm in putting the tube back in.
I trust that the Lord is working, but it is so hard to see it with my eyes. As the one person said, "I believe, Lord. Help me with my unbelief!"
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
No News, at all
The only problem with this is that I feel isolated from the "real world" of talking heads, even though Cutie-Pie and Holmes (as Neal Boortz calls Hannity and Colmes) and Scarborough are as close to "real" as the Weekly World News. (Don't even start on Chris Matthews, Lou Dobbs, or Larry King....) I get tired of the shouting, yet I want more. I must be addicted or something. TV talk: the crack cocaine of television. It has a ring to it. ;) Michael Savage is the closest to a talking head as I can get now, and he's a blowhard with a microphone (sorry, Michael, gotta call them as I see them).
Looks like I'm stuck with foxnews.com and the blogs as my source for "real news". At lea st I know the biases there.
Praise when a prayer gets answered
Of course we said yes. After scrambling to get everything ready for the guys, we let them do the windows. They got all of them in and caulked on the inside by day's end Monday, but they didn't tape or finish wrapping the outside of the windows. I didn't learn this until after they'd left AND after I learned that it was supposed to rain today. Needless to say, I was not happy.
Milady calmed me down enough to point out that the rain wasn't scheduled to occur until morning, and that they would have plenty of time to at least put up tape before the rains started. She also suggested that we pray that it not rain until the windows were wrapped.
As of 3PM today, the last window left to be wrapped was the big window in my office, and it never gets wet from the rain (it's under a porch-like eave). The rains didn't start until around 4:30PM.
If I am going to ask God for something, it is only appropriate I thank Him when he does it.
Mourning
I mourn for the Schindler family. Watching their daughter sit for a decade in nursing facilities when they are sure that simple physical therapy would help her is torture.
I mourn for Michael Schiavo. I cannot understand the drive to starve a spouse, no matter how it might be said spouse's desire. I couldn't do it to Milady, even if she told me she wanted me to do so. Moreover, I mourn that he has felt the desire to commit adultery with multiple women, including his current live-in lover.
I mourn for George Felos. He has truly made bitter sweet and sweet bitter.
I mourn for Judge Greer. He has decided that it is more important to have the right to die than it is to preserve life. I cannot excuse that he was just doing his job. He desired to make the decision he did, and his desire was death. I mourn that he has felt the need to seperate himself from his last church, as this is a sign that his walk with God is not right.
I mourn for the doctors who are killing Terri. They have decided that it's more important to die than live, to kill than to first do no harm. The people whom we have counted on to serve us in making us better are now our lords who can decide who deserves to live, and who isn't good enough to live.
Most of all, I mourn for this society. Our society has decided that it is more important to do what we want than to to obey God. We sacrifice our children to convenience and "lack of desire" like the followers of Molech of old. Put the old people and the infirm in a nursing home, and help the pained and hurting end their suffering with pills or gas. Above all, make sure that no one who has a lower quality of life bothers our quality of life.
America, be very afraid. Ninevah repented in front of Jonah. Rome repented upon the blood of the Christian martyrs. We know of the miracles that would have saved Sodom a nd Gamorrah, Tyre and Sidon, yet we work on committing sins that would have made them tremble!
The Bible says that the Lord gives those who are in sin over to their own desires. I fear that this is our fate, America, that our desires will be the end of us. This I mourn most of all.
One more thing I can do
The Kentucky Packrat blog will stay white text on a black background until either Terri Schiavo receives regular food and water again or until we are done.
I've got more to say, and will do so later this morning.
Sunday, March 20, 2005
Call in the Federal Marshals
At least that's my humble opinion.
BTW, thanks to TheAnchoress and The American Mind for the kind links.
Quick Notes
Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! (Isaiah 5:20)
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach (again on WorldNetDaily) has an equally good article on Terri's situation, as well. Read it.
Saturday, March 19, 2005
The Culture of Me
People are doing what is right in their own sight. If a shirt's got a light tear, throw it away. If you don't have the money right now, put it on credit and pay it off later. If you've put too much on said credit, and some little unforseen event occurs, then take bankrupcy and you can get more credit right afterwards. Take medicines, surgeries, cosmetic procedures, and quick-fix diets to patch up what ails you or what is inconvenient. Marriages are as disposable as the $5 dollar cameras we can now buy.
It's the ultimate expression of the hippie concept of "what feels right is right". It was possible for the "peace and love" anti-materialistic children of the 60s to turn into yuppies because it feels really good to make some (or even a lot) of money. A second income in a fulfilling job is good to keep even when it ends up costing more to go to work than to stay home.
The ultimate expression of this has been a quote I've heard often during the Terri Schiavo case: "I wouldn't want to live that way". Of course you wouldn't. I don't want to be brain-damaged either. Number 1 son didn't want to lose half a lung to pneumonia. My mother-in-law didn't want to die from ovarian cancer. TheAnchoress' brother-in-law S didn't want to die a lingering death. John Paul has no desire to slowly deteriorate from Parkinsons.
Job didn't want to be tested by Satan either, but when God answers Job, God doesn't justify Himself. He doesn't justify Himself to us either. Instead, there are times in our lives when we will have to do things, be places, or even give up things we hold dear (even our health) because of God's plan for us.
By interfering in God's plan by unnaturally ending a life (and y es, withholding food is ending a life) is the ultimate rejection of God's will. I don't know why Terri Schiavo is in the condition she's in. She may be there from abuse, or a potassium imbalance. She may be PVS, or "simply" severly brain-damaged. It might be that Terri will never return to even a resemblance of her former life. Nonetheless, what does it say about us when we are willing to throw her life away because she is no longer convenient to her husband or society.
Friday, March 18, 2005
Rage
If Federal Marshalls can go in and send a boy to Cuba at gunpoint (even if they were right to do so), and kill kids by igniting tear gas at Waco, then surely they could be used to feed one woman.
Update: No rejoicing to be had now
Keep up the phone calls, Emails, and actions.
Thursday, March 17, 2005
Less than one day
Multiple blogs have pointed out that Andrew C. McCarthy has an excellent point: where are the people screaming about torture now?
It is time to fast and pray. We have to pray that we haven't become such a "throw-away" society that we are willing to throw away humans.
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
Murder from the bench
Judge Greer has ordered that Terri Schiavo not be given food or water even when the feeding tube has been removed. This is judicial murder. We must ALL pray that Florida's House Bill 523 passes.
House Bill 523 does a very simple thing: it requires that a person's choice to refuse medical care be spelled out in writing. While I hope that this will be enough, I think Judge Greer is too committed to murder to turn back. I suspect that he will try to rule the law unconstitutional by declaring that HB 523 violates the right to die. One can only hope that the Florida Court of Appeals will contain Greer.
Saturday, March 12, 2005
Not blogging in a while, and now multiple posts
Everyone, please pray for Nick at Nickqueen.com. He has posted an honest post about some depression problems he is facing right now. One of the comments on this thread is my own. I will reproduce my comments after the "fold", just so that I can keep them around here, but it's better at Nick's site.
in the outer also has a series for dealing with depression, with the latest being this post. While I certainly would wish depression on no-one, it is a blessing to see how the Lord is helping people like "the bloke" in situations similar to where I've been.
I am blessed to "only" have mild depression-like symptoms that don't need clinical intervention. I was also greatly blessed in getting my current job. I don't want to bad-mouth my last job (I still have friends there, and one never knows when you'll need to cross a bridge you're burning ;) ), but the stress of expected 48-50 hour weeks and lingering memories of my past mistakes were causing us too much stress.
I would post more, but it seems that the simple act of typing in the last three paragraphs and cut-and-pasting the comment was enough to make me tired. Amazing how trying to keep up the blog will do that.
Here's my post at Nick's:
I would have sworn that I was reading a post by myself here.
I am over 300 now, and on a "one pound a week" diet now, after trying the Atkins diet, losing 60 a couple of years ago and then slowly gaining it all back. I am also chronically late (but getting better :) ).
A lot of my depression-like problems seem to be a very mild case of seasonal affective dis order. My wife and I have banned ourselves from making any serious life decisions or purchases from January to April because of a couple of "winter-blues" mistakes.
Insulin resistance/hypoglycemia and pre-diabetes can also induce the symptoms of clinical depression. If you're eating a lot of starchy foods or sugars, consider switching to a lower-carb diet for a while and see if that helps. If you (or anyone else) are headed into type 2 diabetes, you need to see a doctor NOW, to get this under control.
How's your sleep schedule? You can start a depressive cycle by choosing to get too much or too little sleep. Sleep deprevation will cause clinical depression which causes sleeping problems that cycle in, especially if you have SAD-like symptoms as well.
It may also be that you are chemically depressed. Effexor and its cousins are very good for people who do not have a psychological or other medical reason for being depressed, yet still are.
I would definitely talk to a good Christian internalist/GP who is more interested in finding a solution than throwing medicine at you, and talking through the problem.
Finally, you should get your small group and/or prayer groups at church involved with praying with/for you. You are a very influencial member of the Christian Blogsphere, and as such will be a target of spirital attack.
You'll be in our prayers.
This time 10 years ago
Milady is from Beattyville, and we went to her hometown to get married. On the 11th, we went to Cedar Village in Irvine for the rehersal dinner, and then went back to the hotel. My dad, grandfather, brother-in-law-to-be, and a friend of mine were to stand with me, and my dad was assigned the task of planning the bachelor party. Now, I had no desire to see a stripper or go to a strip club, but it was a bit depressing that my father was too cheap to propose a trip to a "decent" strip club in Lexington. Instead, he proposed a trip to a Richmond club. It's really nice to know your father thinks so much of you that he'll take you to a scuzzy strip club for your wedding. ;)
Instead of a bad bachelor party, we went back to the hotel. Somehow, everyone ended up in the room my friend and I shared. And then they started smoking. Luckily, I was less allergic to smoke then than I am now (these days, I start having asmtha-like symptoms around smokers), but my entire family smokes. I finally couldn't breath, so I went outside. I sat outside talking to the maid for almost 2 hours. Finally, my family got too tired of talking and went to bed, so I could go back to bed myself.
Milady and I wanted to both contain costs and make things work easier for everyone, so we did pictures before the wedding. I saw Milady wearing that white dress, and I almost passed out. She was so beautiful. If I'd not seen her until she walked down the eisle, I'd have locked my knees and passed out for sure.
The week before the marriage we had one of the worst snowstorms of the decade, but the weather that day was the best I could have asked for. We had members of my family I hadn't seen in years drive about 3 hours to come to us, and people from campus (I was still in UK then) drive 2 hours to come. We were so blessed by our guests.
The funny thing is, Milady still k eeps getting more beautiful every day.... :)
Tuesday, March 8, 2005
Do I get a masters? Decisions, Decisions....
As a big "on the other hand", there is a Biblical Hebrew class being tought in the Fall as well. That would be all new stuff, compared to the 2 classes I'd be retaking (I took 2 of the 4 required 500-level classes as an undergrad, but it's been so long they won't count) if I do a Masters now.
I just can't decide which to do....
Monday, March 7, 2005
Sad Mac
It is drawing video pretty much randomly across the screen, and periodically freezing to boot. Terribly disappointing considering how pro-Apple I've been (and still am) of late. The only problem is that I'm now having to work on the 700MHz P3 running Windows XP that I managed to salvage from the graveyard 3 months ago while I was waiting on my iMac to get here. Going from a real machine to this piece of junk hurts.
Sunday, March 6, 2005
post-live blogging the Pope's Blessing
I just watched the networks' coverage of John Paul giving a blessing after his Sunday Angelus message. Fox News had a low-rent satellite link with about a 3 second lag, so the poor early-Sunday anchor couldn't even talk with the reporter without them talking over each other, and then having to sit say nothing for seconds at a time. CNN/CNNI was technically better since the CNNI reporters were in Rome, but I was astonished that they had to ask whether the Pope's windowside blessing "counted". I suppose my Protestant background came out, but it's hard for me to imagine that something isn't valid because the script wasn't followed....
It is clear that John Paul takes strength from the prayers and adulation of the people. When he is filmed in a non-public area, he is listless and tired, but when he is facing the public, he really gets some strength. I hope John Paul can confound his critics even more and be a producti ve member of the Christian community for years to come.
Friday, March 4, 2005
Call to support Incapacitated Persons Legal Protection Act
Normally, I am a states-rights libertarian (small l). I believe that Roe v. Wade was the ultimate in a century's worth of court cases trampling the powers of the states. However, I do believe that the Federal Government can be right when it bars the states from acting. The Federal courts were right to act against Jim Crow, since Jim Crow was the ultimate anti-libertarian expression. (Seperate but Equal isn't when the government acts as an agent to keep things unequal.)
Here, the State of Florida is making a civil death sentence that allows the level of heresay that wouldn't convict a person of littering, much less a capital crime. The Federal Government IMHO has the authority and obligation to prevent that kind of crime.
Wednesday, March 2, 2005
Not for us
It's easy for me to get distracted at worship. I'll worry about my pager, or the next blog entry, or the headache that hasn't quite faded from the week before. I spent almost an entire Michael W. Smith/Max Lucado/Third Day concert worried about how I wasn't feeling all that much. I tend to emotionally think of worshi p as something for me.
But it's not. It's about praising God. I might be more comfortable with singing Christian rock, while my grandparents and their church needed the 75 year old hymn books in order to be comfortable. I can't stand a tie, the older generation can't stand going without. Some need to be formal, some need to be "even more undignified than this".
The key to it all is that point that I had to be reminded about yet again. The point of worship is that it's about praising God. It's about raising our voice to Him, to point out Him and to lessen ourselves. We can't think of ourselves in the process.