Quite a Week

We have had quite a week. Saturday and Sunday was a fundraiser for Real Choices Pregnancy Center. This is a big deal to me because I have been working for years to get my church to be more pro-active in the abortion front. And now I am one of the people in charge of the fundraiser. I am excited to see what God will do.

Tuesday we got to see John Williams conducting the Fort Worth Symphony in some of his music. This was especially cool for my husband. He is a big fan and has been saving and plotting for a long time for us to be able to do this. The kids did great and especially enjoyed the Star Wars and Indiana Jones parts of the concert.

Then yesterday we went to Camp El Tesoro for their Homeschool Adventure Day. We had a blast. We got to choose 5 activities. First we searched for and categorized fossils. We mostly found bivalves though they had some examples of larger cephalopod fossils from the area. The next activity was the nature hike. This was the best part of the day for me because I found this guy beside the path.

It is a poisonous pit viper called a copperhead. Then our guide declared that he was going to catch it and take it back to the main lodge so that the other families could see it.
Obviously, this is not something you should try at home. After this we had a picnic lunch and moved on to archery. We all really enjoyed this. The staff was very patient with us and we all got to shoot about 15-20 arrows before the session was over. Then we went to the birdwatching class and a hayride. The last thing of the day was cooking s'mores over a campfire. That was fun and a good snack to tide us over on the hour ride home.

Also, I have to mention, the bluebonnets were spectacular. I really like our state flower.

Thomas Jefferson Quotes

In light of yesterday's post, I thought I would share some Thomas Jefferson quotes.

"When government fears the people there is liberty; when the people fear the government there is tyranny."

"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have."

Overcriminalization

My husband recently sent me this article about a new book published by Heritage Foundation. The book is One Nation Under Arrest. It is a book about how our federal government has so many laws (about 4,000) and regulations (over 300,000) that almost anyone could be a criminal and not even know it. This is especially true when you add the state and local laws to the pile. The video below gives two examples of this.



In light of this, I recommend that you watch this video by a law professor about why you should always exercise your 5th amendment right to stay silent if ever questioned by the police (even if you are innocent).

$200 Million Per Arrest

We so much government spending going on I don't think any of us are surprised by amazingly high price tags for virtually nothing. But I think this takes the cake. According to Rep. John Duncan from Tennesee, the $860 million budget for the air marshals program is a complete waste. Let's look at some of the facts he shared in a speech from the House floor.

1. About 10 air marshals have been arrested (about 40) for every arrest they made on our behalf (4).

2. There are 4,000 air marshals. That is 1000 per arrest.

3. And now to finish with a quote from Rep. Duncan, "In other words, we are spending approximately $200 million per arrest. Let me repeat that: we are spending approximately $200 million per arrest."

This is our money they are wasting.

Now my husband's solution to this: Allow anyone with a concealed weapons permit to carry on planes and make citizens arrests if there is "trouble" to be handed over to the authorities upon landing. The cost to citizens would be $0.

Any Lovers of Freedom

In reading why the Amish are exempt from this health care bill (they shun all forms of government money), I wondered how many Americans would be willing to give up all of their government benefits except those in the Constitution (armed forces, post offices, roads, and a few others). If you could sign up to forgo all government money (Medicaid, social security, welfare, food stamps, etc.) for the rest of your life in exchange for paying only 5% income tax and being left alone by the federal government, would you do it? I think I would.

Now you ask, "Who would take care of me when I get old or sick?" The people that God tasked with that: your family, the Church, and your community.

The Corp in the Healthcare Bill

Even though it is scary, you need to read this article at NoisyRoom. I would not have believed this if I had not read it from the bill myself (it is on page 1312). I believe that Pres. Obama got his wish and will have the legal apparatus to have his own private army not sworn to protect the Constitution. This concerns me more than the take over of healthcare and that concerns me plenty.

UPDATE:
Wickle's comment with a link to this Glenn Beck post makes me feel better. But the language of this bill (and the one it is amending) still creeps me out.

Acknowledging My Son

My mother wrote this for here church bulletin and said that I could share it here. I took out names and such.

When my son. . . was in high school and [college], he was shy and wouldn’t really try to converse with people at church or look them in the eye. I yearned for people to talk with him, but he made it difficult for even the out-going ones to strike up a conversation with him.

One weekend [my son] went on a university retreat with D. A. and a bunch of university students. The Sunday after the retreat we were crossing the [church] parking lot and I heard someone call my son’s name loudly across the parking lot. My son’s shoulders went higher and his eyes looked up. Sure enough, it was D. A. acknowledging my son, shouting my son’s name all over the [church] parking lot. I was thrilled. Someone had noticed my son and was hollering his name out over the parking lot. Several people noticed and turned around and looked. My son had a good day and so did his mom.

I thought later, “Whatever D. A. asks me to do, I will do it because he acknowledged my son loudly and clearly and bravely and strongly in front of a lot of people.”

I wonder if that is how God feels about His Son. Are we willing to shout His Son’s name across the areas where we walk? Are we willing to say loudly and strongly, “I LOVE JESUS AND HE IS MY BEST FRIEND, AND I WANT EVERYONE TO KNOW!!!”? Will God do anything for us (for eternal reasons) when we acknowledge His Son?
I believe the shouting answer is, “YES!!!”
Someone may ask, “How do I acknowledge the SON today in Abilene, Texas? Maybe it would be like Martha saying out loud, “Yes Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”
Maybe it is serving in Jesus’ Name with no regard to ridicule, embarrassment, or a committee as did the sinful woman in Luke 14.
Maybe it is to sing out loud a song about Jesus as the early Christians sang the first baptismal song, “Wake up, O sleeper, Rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you,” from Ephesians 5:14.
Or maybe the greatest of all ways to acknowledge the SON would be to honor the Son in baptism, and God would smile in heaven and say, “This is a new son of mine and I am very pleased with him.”
Will God do anything for us (for eternal reasons) when we make a stand for His SON? The shouting answer is again, “YES!!!”
“You may ask me for anything in my name and I will do it.”
John 14:13