Freedom Friday 03.13.09

Principal #2 - I believe in God and He is the center of my life.

Did you happen to catch this headline the other day?

"15 % of Americans Claim No Religion At All."

This is acccording to the American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) released on March 10, 2009. While it seems disturbing, let's think about what it also indicates...85% of Americans DO believe in God or at least some kind of higher power.

Now we can argue differences in theology, doctrine or denomination or whether my God and your God are one and the same but that's a different conversation. Let's focus on our common ground: Most of us believe in a Creator. Our founders called this 'Nature's God.' You see, they knew that they could never agree on just one interpretation of God or just one theology. But they also knew that it was absolutely imperative that for this kind of government to work, the people had to be capable of self-governance. This self-governance depends upon the morals and values of the people. We derive our sense of morality and values from our belief in God.

"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." - John Adams, October 11, 1798

As people of faith, we must stand together. ALL faiths, denominations and doctrines. We must put aside our differences and quit attacking each other. God is under attack in our society and we are fighting for the soul of our country.

This week there was a bill proposal brought before the Connecticut Judiciary Committee that would have taken control of the Catholic Church's property and financial management away from the church leaders and given control to the State of Connecticut.

Let that sink in for a minute.

A bill was proposed that would have given control of the church to the state.

Fortunately, the bill was killed due to the uproar it caused in the religious community. And if you've been reading this and thinking to yourself, "I'm not Catholic, I'm a Baptist (or Methodist, Prebyterian or Jewish) so what do I care?" then you, my friend, need to wake up. An assault on religion, ANY religion, is an assault on your religion. If this bill had passed, how long do you think it would be before another legislator decided that since this bill had set a precedent it might also work for the state to take over the Southern Baptist Convention, etc.?

Please, be aware of what's going on around you. We may not be of this world, but we do live in it.

Ten Things That Freak Me Out

My friend, Mer is hosting a fun linky. Today, in honor of the ginormous snakes that I've seen crossing my road, I'm going to list the ten things that really freak me out.



10. Sharks. I don't live near the ocean and I hardly ever go to the beach so I'm not sure why I have a problem with sharks. More of a morbid fascination, actually.


9. Al Franken being elected a U.S. Senator. Sort of.



8. Guys that wear black hi-top Reeboks. I once stopped dating a guy in college because I saw him wearing these. Not proud of that, but there it is. In his defense it was the 90s. But they are still ugly.



7. Liberals.



6. Chewing gum. This one doesn't so much freak me out as irritate me. My husband has known me for 19+ years. To this day, he still offers me a piece of gum when he opens the pack. Grrrr!

5. Vomit. I'll spare you a picture of this one.

4. Heights. No picture for this one either.






3. The irrational fear that Glenn Beck will decide to retire from radio and tv.




2. Spiders. My husband once took me to spend the night in a hotel because I found one of these in our apartment. How great is he?! Oh, and we moved the next day. Remind me to tell you that story sometime.



1. Snakes. My husband ran over one of these last night. Except it was 10 ft long. Ok, not really. 6 feet. Ok, I'm still exaggerating but it WAS twice the length and thickness of the one in the picture. Then I saw another at least this big this afternoon. I was unable to run over it because I had my feet up in the seat and couldn't reach the gas pedal.

Priorities Schmiorities

This post is dedicated to my bloggy friends who have succumbed to this so-called "Unplugging" fad. You are seriously bumming me out.

I know, I know. You've got things that need to be done like cooking, cleaning, raising of the kids, yada yada yada. But really, what could be more important than my knowing what is going on in your life at all times? If I don't have your blogs to read, what will I do with all my free time?

I could resort to doing household chores of my own, but why get my family's hopes up when you and I both know as soon as you plug back in, I'm there.

I could spend time gathering Wes' weekly expense reports for last year from the THREE different jobs he had so I can do our tax return. Nah.

I could start on the many, numerous decorating projects I have started but failed to finish. But it's really much more fun and less work to just look at inspiring pictures on your blogs of projects you have completed.

I think I'll just go take some pictures of some of the plants and trees that are starting to bloom around here, you know, so I'll have something to share with you all when you decide to plug back in.

In other news, I was going to pick up Caitlin from school today and was so absorbed in my thoughts about what I might blog today that I forgot to turn and then found myself halfway across town wondering where I was going. Oh, and when I got to school I figured out that Caitlin had Benchmark this afternoon and I wasn't supposed to pick her up until 5:00.

I do not have a problem.

Freedom Friday 03.06.09

Are you totally creeped out by my logo? Allow me to explain.

It was designed by Glenn Beck and is based on one of the earliest political cartoons by Benjamin Franklin. Mr. Franklin was making a point about colonial unity. Glenn's logo makes a point about the unity of the American people.

Glenn has spent several years studying and reading our founding fathers and has proposed nine basic principles that our founders embraced and that most of us today can agree on. The point is in this day and age we have strayed so far from what our founders intended. They fought for and died for these principles. We argue today about politics, Democrat v. Republican, left v. right, conservative v. liberal. There are two extremes and they are vocal but Glenn believes, and I do too, that MOST of the country doesn't care about how you label your politics. MOST of us care more about the principles that you live by. We CAN quit fighting and unite around these principles.

The first of these principles is that America is good.

There has been so much divisiveness in politics in recent years, it should come as no surprise that America's image is somewhat tainted. After all, you can't keep calling our President (Bush) evil and then expect everyone to believe America is great. In the era of Blame America First, we need to remember that America is good. Have we done things that tarnish our reputation? You betcha. But the government is only as good and honest as the people who elect it. Samuel Adams said "He therefore is the truest friend to the liberty of his country who tries most to promote its virtue, and who, so far as his power and influence extend, will not suffer a man to be chosen into any office of power and trust who is not a wise and virtuous man...The sum of all is, if we would most truly enjoy this gift of Heaven, let us become a virtuous people."

Virtue. Moral excellence.

I challenge you to promote the virtue of America by first living virtuously in your own life.

Say what you mean and mean what you say.

Do the right thing.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Then I challenge you, as far as your influence extends, do not suffer anyone to be chosen into any office of power and trust who does not also live virtuously. Our reputation depends on it.

Back in the Blogging Saddle

You HAVE to watch this video clip! I wish I was really smart and knew how to put it directly in my blog (is that called 'embedding'?) But I'm not and I don't so here's the link. Warning: Do not attempt to drink anything while watching unless you like snorting liquids out your nose. And if you don't think this is funny then I don't know what's wrong with you.

My hubby just brought me one of these. See? This is why I love him.

My sweet friends, Amber and Stephanie brought us this for dinner:



Yummy!

And they brought us a pink dogwood tree from our small group and the nicest card. Someday when it is all grown up it will look like this:


I think I'll put it where my Japanese Maple used to live...before it was murdered.

This is the convicted killer:


Yeah, she looks sweet right now but don't let her looks fool you. She is deadly to landscaping. Hence, the electric fence in my flower beds right now. Oh so attractive. And apparently she has a hard time staying awake for the 10 o'clock news. Maybe she was hoping to see her mug shot?