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About This Author
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Each Day Already is a Challenge
A Texas Sunrise
 
A friend, William Taylor, took this picture. He visits Surfside Beach with his dogs almost every morning, watching the sun rise while the dogs prance about at the water's edge.
This is only about ten miles from where I lived in Lake Jackson, Texas. Sadly, I only visited this beach about four times in the six years I lived nearby.
Each day is a challenge. A challenge to get by without thinking about the fibromyalgia pains. A challenge to stay awake when chronic fatigure wants to take over. And a challenge to navigate through fibro fog.
I haven't been writing as much as in the past. For years, I wrote at least 500 words a day. Now, I'm lucky if I write 500 words in month. Sigh.
For more information about what my day (or life) is all about with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, chronic pains, IBS, depression and everything else thrown in, check this out:
August 24, 2007 at 1:59pm August 24, 2007 at 1:59pm
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When I saw the first mention of Kid Nation, I wondered about the show. I had some bad feelings...
I didn't see the ABC mention of CBS' Kid Nation this morning, but I did find it on Yahoo when I logged on. It seems my fears about this show were probably right on.
First, I have to wonder what the parents were thinking. Seriously. They all signed 22 page contracts giving CBS and the Kid Nation producers the right to tell their kids what to do and how to do it for 40 days. For $5,000. There's a confidentialty clause that says they'll be fined $5 million if they come forward and share "secrets" about the show.
The parents took their children - ages 8 to 15 - out of school to be on this show last Spring. A show where the kids were in charge of themselves. Except where CBS might tell them they had to do things or couldn't do things.
What were the parents thinking????????
And CBS? They selected a state that has more lax laws about child labor? I always thought there were federal laws about child labor. The kids had no running water. Obviously no sanitary conditions, if there was not even running water. CBS didn't announce their presence, like they would usually do when setting up a TV show anywhere in the country. They quietly sneaked in, filmed for 40 days, and by the time authorities were alerted, they were gone. The reason? They were doing something quite out of the ordinary. Illegal? Probably. If these kids were real TV actors, they would have had teachers on the set. They would have only been allowed to work for a certain number of hours and days each week.
Here's what ABC had to say about this today. And a TV critic...who said the trailers made him want to puke.
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/ver/223/popup/index.php?cl=3824834
Are you outraged about this? I am - at both CBS and the parents.
There are quite a few CBS shows that hubby and I watch. We're not ones who have to watch shows every time they're on.  But we have been known to watch these shows: CSI, Shark, NCIS, Numbers, Jericho, Cold Case, Without a Trace.
The TV critic in the ABC clip thinks that Kid Nation will never air. I hope he's right. I've done my part. I went to CBS feedback to let them know that even though I enjoy a number of CBS shows, I'll give up watching every one of them if this show airs.
But that's just me...
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August 24, 2007 at 10:47am August 24, 2007 at 10:47am
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Faith Works - Part 5
Word Up, Word Active
But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the word, this one will be blessed in what he does.
James 1:25 NKJV
 Adjust our lives for the Word of God.
...so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His varvelous light... 1 Peter 2:9 NASB
...so not offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. Romans 6:19 NIV
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 NIV
Jesus didn't ask the disciples to come and discuss with him, he said, "Come and follow me."
We have to do #1 above to do #2 below...
Accept the Word of God.
He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 NIV
We have to hear, understand, then produce.
Attitudes for access:
Try to listen. James 1:19a Be quick to listen...
Seek to learn. James 1:19b ...slow to speak...
Be laid back. James 1:19b ...and slow to become angry...
We have two eyes and one mouth for a reason. We're supposed to listen more than speak.
Assimilate the Word of God.
Jemas 1:21 NRSV for if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror;
James 1:24 NSRV ...for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like.
Hebrews 4:12 NIV For the word of God is living and active...it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
Read the Word.
James 1:24a NCV But the truly happy people are those who carefully study God's perfect law that makes people free...
Here the word study means to "stoop down and gaze in."
Three questions I need to ask before reading God's Word:
What can I learn from this?
What is God trying to tell me?
How can this make me a better believer today?
One promise I need to make before reading God's Word:
Whatever I read I promise to obey.
Ruminate on the Word.
Do you know what ruminate means? Chew on and chew on again (as in cows and cud), meditate on, ponder.
Here's an interesting observation. Worry is negative meditation. Ponder that one...
James 1:25b NCV But the truly happy people are those who...continue to study it.
If God is trying to tell me something, what is the...
Promise I need to claim.
Problem I need to confess.
Purpose I need to practice.
Praise I need to acknowledge.
James 1:25c NCV They do not forget what they heard, but they obey what God's teaching says. Those who do this will be made happy.
Act on the Word.
James 1:22 NIV Do not merely listen to the wod, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
James 1:25 GW However, the person who continues to study God's perfect teachings that make people free and who remains committed to them will be blessed. People like that don't merely listen and forget; they actually do what God's teachings say.
John 13:17 NIV Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
James 1:26-27 TLB Anyone who says he is a Christian but doesn't control his sharp tongue is just fooling himself, and his religion isn't worth much. The Christian who is pure and without fault, from God the Father's point of view, is the one who takes care of orphans and widows, and who remains true to the Lord - not soiled and dirtied by his contacts with the world.
Character confirmation.
Take control over your mouth.
To care enough to work your faith.
Stay clean in an unholy environment.
Maturity is how much change in character there has been.
When it comes to studying the Bible, there are more auditors than students. (Remember college days? You could audit a class and not have to take any notes or tests or really learn anything? You could just sit in.)
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August 24, 2007 at 10:10am August 24, 2007 at 10:10am
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I asked a question in a moderator forum - because the question had been posed to me. I thought I would dump it here as well.
The E rating says that there will be no reference to violence. If one writes a children's story about Jesus that merely mentions that Jesus died, that should qualify as an E-rated story, right? Death isn't necessarily violent, although we know that in the case of Jesus' death...
If one uses the phrase "died on the cross", which implies violence, does that change the rating to ASR or 13+? If so, then how does one write a children's story about Jesus?
I have to admit that as a child, I didn't know that the death of Jesus on the cross was a violent experience. Even as an adult for a while, I guess I chose to not think about what happened too much. It wasn't until I read the words of a doctor about what would have happened to Jesus that I realized the full extent of the wounds and the pain. Then, of course just a few years ago when the Mel Gibson movie came out, I cried like everyone else in the theater when I saw how horrible it must have been.
Received in my inbox today: Ohio Bans the Name of Jesus from the Statehouse. http://www.newswithviews.com/Johnston/patrick13.htm This article points out that at the same time that Jefferson penned the words "separation of church and state" in a letter to a pastor, he was presiding over public schools in Washington, D.C. where the books used to teach were a Bible and a hymnal.
This article mentions this Supreme Court ruling in 1892. It's rather dull reading until towards the end where it shows why, indeed, this was a Christian nation, at the beginning and still in 1892. It says, "These and many other matters which might be noticed, add a volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of organic utterances that this is a Christian nation." http://home.aol.com/TestOath/HolyTrinityOp1-2.htm
The first article also provided a link to something about secular humanism and whether or not it is/was a religion. Interesting reading. Sounds like it's considered a religion when it's convenient and not a religion when someone wants it to be taught in schools.
http://members.aol.com/Patriarchy/definitions/humanism_religion.htm
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