The Homeless--Any Prospects?

Every night, nearly 200,000 homeless veterans sleep on the streets. “A disgrace,” says former Secretary of Veteran Affairs, Jesse Brown, “that we have men and women who served in American uniform who are out on the streets with no place to go and few prospects for a better life.”

The little bit of information above came from the web site, linked here, of Dignity Memorial, a homeless veterans’ burial program that provides free, appropriate funeral services for qualified homeless veterans. That’s a generous gesture.

But what about their lives? Are they to be left alone under a bridge or on a park bench until death, and then washed, dressed, and buried in a decent way? I believe I see some irony here.

A Google search shows this linked web site of National Homeless.org. After much beating around of the proverbial bush about studies and assumptions, the author says

the total number of homeless people in the United States is “approximately

3.5 million people, 1.35 million of them children,” according to the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty. That is a disgrace.

The United States has the reputation of being one of the most advanced, wealthiest, least hungry nations in the world; many generous Christians live in this country, and the church is not persecuted. Why would so many people be destitute? Is our love too small?

Mark Labberton is the author of a Christianity Today article entitled “The Lima Bean Gospel.” He posits that the church today does not give much evidence of obeying the gospel call; maybe it isn’t politically correct to be zealous, and we worry about that. Labberton says:

Jesus Christ, the Lord of Creation, Redemption, and Fulfillment, calls the church the salt and light of the world. Jesus seems to have had in mind a community engaged in vigorous, self-sacrificing mission that goes to great lengths to enact costly love, that inconveniences itself regularly to seek justice for the oppressed, that creatively serves the forgotten, all to portray that the kingdom of God is at hand.

Depending on where we look in the world, however, that church seems to have gone missing.

We should take a close look at ourselves. When Jesus said we should love God with our whole beings and love our neighbors as ourselves, he meant it; he said those two commandments embody all the ten commandments.

If we truly loved our neighbors as ourselves, we would be loving sacrificially. It's pretty clear that we are usually quite willing to go to great lengths to ensure satisfaction of our own needs. So, logically, if we loved others as ourselves, we'd be more than willing to help people who suffer dire need.

The fact that we, the whole body of Christ, are not willing to act in sacrificial ways shows that our concept of God's love is indeed too small.

As Labberton points out, our God is the creator of the universe, including “300 kinds of hummingbirds” and great diversity among human beings. He says Christianity has been accused of being too bland and weak to offer any answers to the huge diversity of overlapping cultures today. We act as if our love—our gospel—is small.

The only answers, he argues, that will show Christ to the world “will require us to consider again that very thing Jesus says is central to God's kingdom, the most life-enlarging and non-homogenizing reality: love.”

The Bible says we should show our love in actions, not just talk about it:

If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence. 1 John 3:17-19

Love is the most powerful force in the universe. If the Christian church worldwide wanted to, it would act out this love, the sacrificial love of Christ. And then 200,000 homeless veterans would not have to wait around until they die to get help. Over 3.5 million other homeless people, including children, would not have "few prospects."

*I borrowed this picture from the "Oldtimer Speaks Out" blog; Oldtimer said the picture came from Flickr .

The Homeless--Any Prospects?

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2008/01/every-night-nearly-200000-homeless.html

Rob Bell

My friend sent me a Time Magazine article about Rob Bell, saying, “This is something you really need to read.” So I did. I didn’t know a thing about him.

Rob Bell—who is that?! I asked this question when I read that articles in the Chicago Sun-Times and Christianity Today called him “the next Billy Graham.” I did some investigating, because that’s quite a claim to make about anybody.

Rob Bell is the pastor of the Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandview, Michigan. He looks like a good ol’ American boy in his twenties; he founded Mars Hill, a protestant, nondenominational, evangelical mega-church that meets in a converted shopping center. He is helping lots of people “find the Big Jesus” in new ways.

A BeliefNet article by David Kuo, linked here, says this about Bell:

Chances are you haven't heard of Rob Bell. You will. In 1999, he, his wife Kristen, and a group of friends started Mars Hill Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan because they wanted to create a community where God could be experienced in a non-traditional way. They didn't know how to do it or what would happen. They just knew that they wanted to be part of a community where people loved coming, questions were welcomed and love abounded. The church grew from zero to 10,000 in less than two years and Rob Bell has become a phenomenon.

And so, I tell you the same thing my friend told me: “This is something you really need to read.”

Here are some amazing, innovational things Bell does to show people who Jesus is—and this is the sure-enough real Jesus of the New Testament:

• After a sermon he gave called “Love Wins,” a widespread bumper-sticker campaign started, and you can read about it and hear the “Love Wins” sermon at this linked site: Also, you can buy “Love Wins” bumper stickers and get the first one free, and start spreading this great notion at this site.

• He and some people in his church do short videos (about 15-20 minutes) called NOOMA, in which he generally tells a story that powerfully illustrates things about God. You can view some or even buy some at this linked site.

• You can experience teachings of the Mars Hill church at this linked site of the church.

Reading about what Rob Bell does gives me hope for the world. It makes me think of this passage from Acts 2. On the day of Pentecost, Peter says,

In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.

Rob Bell

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2008/01/rob-bell.html

Friends--Lost and Found

I just received an amazing phone call from a family I thought I had lost for good. They live in Monterrey, Mexico, now; I lost touch with them when they moved to Monterrey from Reynosa, on the Texas border.

I met them when I went on several mission trips to Reynosa about eleven years ago. V. was the pastor of the church where we stayed while we did our work of tearing down an ancient church with generations of possums living in the walls. We went back and stayed with V.’s people again a few months later to begin building a new church.

We comfort-loving Americans learned to work under bad conditions, as it rained most of the week. We learned to serve and love other people because of unconditional love. Our hearts were touched and broken by the terrible poverty we saw. People lived in lean-tos made of wooden pallets, Styrofoam, pieces of tin and cardboard. Their floors were dirt. Pairs of houses shared a water faucet. Every yard had an outhouse. In spite of pain and troubles, they worshipped God with a free openness that we rarely see in this country—a sweetness of spirit, a certainty in his power and love.

We met with a youth group in a large church in a more prosperous part of the city; they did not know about the poverty and suffering in their own city. They asked us, “Why have you come so far to help people you don’t know?”

We looked at each other and said, “Uh, well….”

They said, “Is it because you have Jesus in your hearts?”

That was it. “Yes,” we said. The rest of the week, three of the youths worked with us. We were brothers and sisters in Christ. By the end of that week, we loved them and didn’t want to leave; we were especially close to V. and his family. V. and his wife came to the United States and spent a week with us.

For about six years, I kept in touch with V. and his wife through e-mail, but I lost them when they moved to Monterrey four years ago. I had tried everything I knew to find out where they were. Then tonight, there they were, on the telephone. They are visiting their son in the United States. I am full of joy to have them back at last!! Praise be to God, who gives blessing after blessing!

Friends--Lost and Found

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2008/01/friends-lost-and-found.html

Anne Rice: Supporter of Clinton

Here is an open letter from Anne Rice to her readers, found on her blog. In it she explains in a “soft voice” why she supports Hilary Clinton for President, even though Clinton believes in abortion as a woman’s right.

And here is a link to an equally soft-voiced response, written by Dr. Robert George, a professor of jurisprudence at Princeton University.

Rice has been a committed Christian since a few years ago when she returned to the faith. Ever since, she says nothing but Jesus Christ is worth writing about—faith, rather than the search for meaning, which is what she had always explored in her earlier novels. If you haven’t read her powerful novel Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, you must do so at once! When I first heard about the book, I was skeptical; I wrote this commentary about it.

The picture of Anne Rice comes from her web site, http://www.annerice.com .

Anne Rice: Supporter of Clinton

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2007/12/anne-rice-supporter-of-clinton.html

The Virgin Birth

The book of Luke tells us that the angel of God said to Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.” And so she became pregnant with the baby Jesus.

Soon after that, Mary went to spend several months with her relative Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah, who lived in the hill country, some distance away. The angel had also told Mary that Elizabeth was six months pregnant; beyond the child-bearing age, Elizabeth had been unable to conceive until then.

As soon as Mary greeted Elizabeth, the baby in her womb, she said, “leaped for joy.” This baby, from the womb, recognized the Christ child in Mary’s womb. He was to be John the Baptist, who would prepare the way for the Messiah. The Holy Spirit within him saw the Christ and communicated joy to his spirit.

My friend and Sunday school teacher, whose name happens to be Mary, said this reaction of the unborn baby John to the unborn baby Jesus is a picture of what happens when we accept Christ. The Holy Spirit comes inside us to give us the mind of Christ so that we can discern truth. And so the Holy Spirit in us recognizes Jesus and causes our spirits to leap with joy.

On a previous Sunday morning, a man in our class said he wasn’t so sure all that was possible. Well…in human terms, it is not possible.

Do I believe God can do anything—that he is omnipotent? If my answer is “yes,” then how can I question a pregnancy that happened without human intercourse? How can I question the pregnancy of an old, barren woman? How can I question one unborn baby’s reaction to another unborn baby?

Luke 1:37 says, “For nothing is impossible with God.”

*The picture comes from http://www.wrensworld.com/marydidyouknow/htm

The Virgin Birth

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2007/12/virgin-birth.html

Lonely at Christmas?

A few days ago, I heard on TV news that the Christmas holiday suicide rate is actually not the highest of the year, as we previously thought. According to recent research, December is the ninth on the list of months.*

That’s good news! Why, you may ask, would that be true? Here are some ideas from a suicide information web site:

--Gatherings of friends and relatives surround and protect vulnerable people.

--Christmas celebrations may evoke positive memories, hopefulness, and a renewed outlook for those in distress.

-- A growing awareness of community resource-type safety nets available especially during this period may bring hope and lessen despair, agencies like food banks, shelters, and outreach programs.

I think there’s a spirit of giving that rises and swells in our hearts this time of year. It makes us think of others, maybe more than ourselves. Maybe we are more prone to pay attention to other people with compassion, more willing to listen and give comfort. That’s how we’re meant to be—not buried in loneliness, but reaching out to others.

Stephen Burns, author of a Discipleship Journal article called “What’s a Lonely Person to Do?” says, “In my loneliness I had become unwittingly self-centered; everything revolved around me.” Through experiences with an elderly woman called “Aunty Lila” in his church, he learned that instead of being self-centered, he could have something to offer, to give comfort to others as he had been comforted.

He quotes 2 Corinthians 1:3-5--

“Praise be to . . . the Father of compassion and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.”

We are often lonely and feeling alone; we are strangers in the world. Sarah Davis writes, in a short sidebar story attached to Burns’s article, “In many ways, I feel loneliness exists to remind us we’re not at home in this life, to help us see that there is longing within all of us, and to drive us to the cross. The cross is a profound expression not only of sacrifice and salvation, but loneliness, too. So much of what makes us feel lonely is feeling that we are enduring alone, which Jesus did and He took our sin on Himself.”

Concluding the article, Burns acknowledges that all people feel lonely at times in their lives—it’s part of us. His prayer is this:

“In such seasons, may God give us the courage to open our hearts to those around us and to extend our hands to those who need us. Then, even when the times grow lonesome, we won’t be lonely.”

May these thoughts grow in our hearts this Christmas season and lead us to draw near to the Christ child, to be hopeful, to reach out to other people in love and compassion.

*August was found to have the highest incidence of suicide, and September, the lowest.

Lonely at Christmas?

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2007/12/lonely-at-christmas.html

Denzel Washington: A Spiritual Life

This month’s Reader’s Digest features an interview with Denzel Washington. “For Denzel Washington, it’s not about fame and fortune.” says a banner at the top of the page, introducing the title. “It’s about ‘Keeping the Faith.’” The author is David Hochman.

I have always thought there was a special something about Denzel, and now I understand better what it is. He and his wife of 25 years, Pauletta, are devoted to God, to each other, and to their four children. He says he is definitely a spiritual person.

Hochman asked him, “Do you ever see a conflict in Hollywood, Godless Hollywood, as a spiritual person?”

Washington answered, “Well, wait a minute. Stop. That’s broad. Godless Hollywood? What is that? First of all, Hollywood is a part of Los Angeles, not a way of thinking. When you say Godless Hollywood, are you including me? Are you saying everybody in Hollywood is Godless? That’s like saying Godless Reader’s Digest. No such thing. Right?” War and violence and Godlessness occur everywhere, he said, “not just in Hollywood.”

When asked if his beliefs influence his acting roles, Washington said it is who he is and as such, it will be instilled in every part of his life. He said you can’t do life on your own. “He’s got you covered. My faith helps me understand that circumstances don’t dictate my happiness, my inner peace.” He reads the Bible every day; he’s on his second pass through the whole thing.

“What are you most proud of?” Hochman asked.

Washington’s answer: “God, family, work. When our children were born, I was like, my work used to be my life. Now my work is making a living. They’re life. My children are. So what I am proudest of is all of the above. In that order.”

Here’s a link to their site, where you can hear the interview, or at least part of it. The picture comes from the site.

Denzel Washington: A Spiritual Life

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2007/12/denzel-washington-spiritual-life.html

Spiritual Formation--Hillary Clinton

The Christianity Today web site features an interesting article called “Hillary’s Spiritual Formation,” which explains the early spiritual development of Hillary Clinton. Here is a link to the site. The article, by Paul Kengor, is an excerpt from his book, God and Hillary Clinton: A Spiritual Life.

As responsible citizens, we need to find out all we can about the Presidential candidates so we can make an informed choice, come next November.

Spiritual Formation--Hillary Clinton

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2007/12/spiritual-formation-hillary-clinton.html

E-Mail: Ecclesiastes

This is an interesting e-mail exchange I had with my friend Maxey after my two entries about Ecclesiastes, “Ecclesiastes: Futility” and “Ecclesiastes: Meaning and Purpose.”


Maxey wrote:

Your information about Ecclesiastes was very good. As a matter of fact, I read the book first period, while my freshman students were watching THE ODYSSEY. I have always enjoyed Chapter 3:1-8. I guess we do live in a world of checks and balances, the good and the bad, the positives and the negatives---hopefully with more good people than bad ones.

We must realize that all of us must accept the truth, fear the Lord, and be accountable for our actions. It's too bad that we must FEAR so often in order to act properly.

Will you please explain Chapter 10:19 (A feast...)? I don't understand the part about the money.


Judy wrote:

I looked up Ecclesiastes 10:19 in several different translations, and here is the one that seems most likely to me--it's the NIV Readers version:

People laugh at a dinner party.
And wine makes life happy.
People think money can buy everything.

So it's probably not that money actually is the answer to everything, but that people think it is. What do you think?


Maxey wrote:

I understand now. The verse deals with man's thoughts, not God's. We often resort to food, alcohol, and the lust for money as an escape and alleviation for mundane problems. Instead, all we have to do is follow God and His ways, for He is the answer to everything. Sounds simple, doesn't it?


Judy wrote:

Yes, it does sound pretty simple. If only we could wrap our minds around this simple truth!

E-Mail: Ecclesiastes

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2007/12/e-mail-ecclesiastes.html

Ecclesiastes: Meaning and Purpose

The second week of the study of Ecclesiastes in the Disciple Bible Study is different from the first. I feel much more comfortable with it. This week, we are asked to read it through the viewpoint of hope and love—through sure knowledge of the grace of God and faith in him through Jesus.

The assignment says this:

As we discovered last week, many people see only futility, even despair, in Ecclesiastes. Now, look for the good things in life. Look for the joys, modest though they may be.

The human condition statement in the lesson describes us accurately, as they do in all the lessons:

Only five more days till the weekend. Only eleven more months till vacation. Only twenty more years till retirement. We’re preparing. One of these days, we’ll be able to enjoy life.

The writer of Ecclesiastes began to see life as meaningless, because it will just end in death. He hit an existential void of sorts, letting himself get weighed down by Satan’s messages of cynicism, depression, heaviness of heart. He tried all kinds of things to see if he could find meaning and purpose to satisfy his heart—huge projects, wealth, possessions, women, pleasure, work. But it all ends in death, no matter what.

He realized that happiness is found only in knowing and loving God. Some of his important conclusions are these:

God has put eternity—a sense of it—in people’s hearts, so they are capable of knowing God. People can comprehend that even though human endeavors all eventually end, what God does lasts forever.

There is too much evil and oppression in the world. Even so, there is strength in our connection with others; “a cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”

It is important to stand in awe of God, to seek wisdom, to avoid love of wealth. Joy comes from following him.

Whatever you do, he says, do it with all your heart.

Share with other people; “cast your bread upon the waters.” It will come back to you, multiplied.

Remember God all your life.

Just because God often connects things for me, I looked up today’s (Dec. 2) My Utmost for His Highest entry by Oswald Chambers, and sure enough, it ties in. Ecclesiastes is timely:

Christian perfection is not, and never can be, human perfection. Christian perfection is the perfection of a relationship with God that shows itself to be true even amid the seemingly unimportant aspects of human life. When you obey the call of Jesus Christ, the first thing that hits you is the pointlessness of the things you have to do. The next thought that strikes you is that other people seem to be living perfectly consistent lives. Such lives may leave you with the idea that God is unnecessary— that through your own human effort and devotion you can attain God’s standard for your life. In a fallen world this can never be done. I am called to live in such a perfect relationship with God that my life produces a yearning for God in the lives of others, not admiration for myself. Thoughts about myself hinder my usefulness to God. God’s purpose is not to perfect me to make me a trophy in His showcase; He is getting me to the place where He can use me. Let Him do what He wants.

Ecclesiastes: Meaning and Purpose

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2007/12/ecclesiastes-meaning-and-purpose.html

Ecclesiastes: Futility

The Disciple Bible study, Under the Tree of Life, is the fourth in the Disciple series. This is my fourth year to participate with the group at my church, so I’m well engrained in the structure of it. Every time we read over some part of the Bible that we’ve studied before, I learn new things. Our group has grown very close, as we’ve studied, shared our concerns, and prayed together.

This week, we are reading Ecclesiastes; we’re reading it next week, too. This week, we are asked to read it with a pessimistic view, as if we didn’t know the hope of God through Christ, “from the perspective of futility.” Here is the assignment:

“Look for mystery, vain things, incongruities, ambivalence, irony, chance, punctured pride, injustice, tragedy, and death. Look at life as it really is. Consider your own death” (70).

Every week’s lesson gives us an assessment of the human condition that has us pretty well pegged. This week’s “Human Condition” is this:

“We live as if tomorrow were a sure thing. We accumulate. The next new experience, the next new possession—we gather them around us to distract us from the fact that nothing lasts. That we’re going to die” (70).

People who have been Christians for years need to remember how it was before they came to know God. They need to remember how it felt to be hopeless and to find life meaningless. I remember.

I find myself resistant to really getting into that perspective. I have vivid memories of that view of life, because I lived it for fifty years before I was rescued from myself by God. I really don’t want to re-live those feelings.

Wilke, Richard Byrd, and Julia Kitchens Wilke. Disciple: Under the Tree of Life Study Manual. Abingdon, 2001.

Ecclesiastes: Futility

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2007/11/ecclesiastes-futility.html

Thursday Thirteen: National Awareness Month of ...

Did you know that there are thirteen (or maybe fifteen) national awareness promotions designated for the month of November! There might even be others.

Red Ribbon Month

Drunk & Drugged Driving (3D) Prevention Month

Lung Cancer Awareness Month

American Diabetes Month

National COPD Awareness Month

National Hospice Month

National Novel Writing Month

National Marrow Awareness Month

National Family Caregivers Month

National Inspirational Role Models Month

National Alzheimer's Disease Month

National American Indian Heritage Month

National Adoption Month

Aviation History Month

Prematurity Awareness Month

Thursday Thirteen: National Awareness Month of ...

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2007/11/thursday-thirteen-national-awareness.html

Hungry and Needy

It is important to be present in every moment—to truly be there, not absent-minded or half-there because of distraction or worry. It’s easy to get that way because of a vague sense of being needy or bored or sick or fatigued, or a feeling that there somehow has to be more to life.

We do all kinds of things, trying to feel better, to fill up the emptiness. Eating too much is a feel-good activity that lots of us are into these days.

See this, for example, from a blog about overeating: "For some people, eating is a compulsion. Men and women of all ages force themselves to eat too much or too little, and suffer tremendous psychological pain when they do. Eating, body weight and image become an obsession that damages relationships and has serious medical consequences.

"Food addiction is a disorder characterized by preoccupation with food, the availability of food and the anticipation of pleasure from the ingestion of food."

But the good feelings don’t last, and that’s because only closeness to God gives that rich, satisfied feeling.

Overeating is not a sickness itself, but a symptom of sickness. The real sickness is isolation from God, a deeper-than-the-bones soul sickness. He satisfies “more than the richest feast.”

Psalm 63 says it well—David was in the wilderness, thirsty, lonely and needy:

O God, you are my God;
I earnestly search for you.
My soul thirsts for you;
my whole body longs for you
in this parched and weary land
where there is no water.
I have seen you in your sanctuary
and gazed upon your power and glory.
Your unfailing love is better than life itself;
how I praise you!
I will praise you as long as I live,
lifting up my hands to you in prayer.
You satisfy me more than the richest feast.
I will praise you with songs of joy.

I lie awake thinking of you,
meditating on you through the night.
Because you are my helper,
I sing for joy in the shadow of your wings.
I cling to you;
your strong right hand holds me securely.

The picture and quote come from www.themorbidme.com ; the Bible passage is from www.biblegateway.com

Hungry and Needy

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2007/11/hungry-and-needy.html

A Last Visit

This is a picture of my mother, age 91 (on the right), and her sister, age 93.

I thank God that several of my cousins came and brought my aunt to see my mother in June, even if it was only for a few hours; we all had a very special time together.

My mother had been afraid she might never see her sister again, her last surviving sibling of a total of eight. My aunt had a stroke about two weeks after this picture was taken, and she died in September.

I believe God cares about our fears, our love for other people, and our need to see them.

A Last Visit

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2007/10/last-visit.html

Thursday Thirteen: How Well-Rounded Are You? A Quiz

How well-rounded are you? Here is a little quiz to test your knowledge on a variety of things. Answers are at the bottom—no cheating!

1. Who said “Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes”?

a. Mark Twain

b. Henry David Thoreau

c. Nathaniel Hawthorne

d. Paul Simon

2. Who worked in a family pencil factory?

a. Walt Whitman

b. Henry David Thoreau

c. Nathaniel Hawthorne

d. Emily Dickinson

3. Who invented the American novel of the sea?

a. Mark Twain

b. Edgar Allan Poe

c. Nathaniel Hawthorne

d. Herman Melville

4. Who said “Rebuke the devil and he will flee from you”?

a. the Bible: the book of James

b. the Bible: the book of Jude

c. Cotton Mather, Salem witch trials

d. Nathaniel Hawthorne

5. Who believed that, to be truly in tune with nature, we must become like a “transparent eyeball”?

a. Walt Whitman

b. Emily Dickinson

c. Ralph Waldo Emerson

d. William Cullen Bryant

6. Have the Texas Rangers ever played in the World Series?

a. no, never

b. yes, by the skin of their teeth in 1995

c. yes, in 1993

d. yes, in 1988

7. True or false? The moon is 1,974, 907 miles away from us.

8. True or false? The bright morning and evening stars are both Venus.

9. One of the favorite foods of Monarch butterflies is _____.

a. ragweed

b. milkweed

c. burberrry bush

d. mallowflowers

10. The first compilation of English property, the Domesday Book, was ordered by _____.

a. Frederick the Great

b. William the Conqueror

c. Alfred the Great

d. the Venerable Bede

11. The first English king to convert to Christianity was _____.

a. Hrothgar

b. Alfred

c. Aethelberht

d. Waelred

12. The “Bard of Avon” is a name commonly given to _____.

a. Petrarch

b. Shakespeare

c. Ben Jonson

d. Geoffrey Chaucer

13. Sir Thomas Malory wrote much of Morte Darthur , the first chronological collection of stories about King Arthur, while he was in _____.

a. Warwickshire

b. the English Lake District

c. love

d. jail

1. b; 2. b; 3. c; 4. a; 5. c; 6. a; 7. false; 8. true; 9. b; 10. b; 11. c; 12. b; 13. d

Thursday Thirteen: How Well-Rounded Are You? A Quiz

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2007/10/thursday-thirteen-how-well-rounded-are.html

Thursday Thirteen: Happy Stuff

Things that really make me happy, in no particular order!

1. chocolate chip cookies

2. hummingbirds

3. Vivaldi

4. Mozart

5. October weather

6. old movies I like, such as Tootsie

7. reading a good novel

8. reading the Bible

9. playing with my grandchildren

10. rain

11. going for a walk

12. hibiscus—pink ones and red ones

13. being with my family: In the picture up there at the top, that's me on the left, being silly with my daughter and my mother.

Thursday Thirteen: Happy Stuff

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2007/10/thursday-thirteen-happy-stuff.html

A Callarmanian Love Theory

An October 8 Associated Press article says, “A lousy marriage might literally make you sick. Marital strife and other bad personal relationships can raise your risk for heart disease, researchers reported Monday.

“What it likely boils down to is stress (,) a well-known contributor to health problems, as well as a potential byproduct of troubled relationships, the scientists said.

“In a study of 9,011 British civil servants, most of them married, those with the worst close relationships were 34 percent more likely to have heart attacks or other heart trouble during 12 years of follow-up than those with good relationships. That included partners, close relatives and friends.

“The study, in Monday's Archives of Internal Medicine, follows previous research that has linked health problems with being single and having few close relationships. In the new study, researchers focused more on the quality of marriage and other important relationships.”

If we are being scientific about love, we must note that a Callarmanian theory posits these points:

· We were created by a loving God for a close love relationship with him.

· If we are not in a loving relationship with God, we are heartsick.

· We are weighed down by guilt, loneliness, feelings of inferiority, emptiness, and plain old unhappiness.

· These things ooch out into every corner of our lives, even the darkest ones.

· We feel stressed about life in general.

· We feel alone in the world, saddled with responsibilities beyond our ability to cope.

· We are mostly concerned about our own well-being.

· Sometimes we do despicable and harmful things in our efforts to find solace.

· God loves us and wants us to love him.

· But he is holy and perfect. No human is capable of perfect love.

· Through Jesus Christ, we are made acceptable to God.

· Jesus said what God mainly wants is for us to love him completely and to love other people.

· He can help us love him and through him to love others unselfishly.

· When our main concern is loving and pleasing God and then secondly loving and caring for others—including our spouse—we are more likely to be happy in “marriage and other important relationships.”

· Then our hearts will be healthier.

The heart is an original creation by my granddaughter.

A Callarmanian Love Theory

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2007/10/callarmanian-love-theory.html

Hunger

All right, class, the word for the day is hungry, and we might as well also take a look at its noun or verb form, hunger.

Now, we all know basically what that means. In fact, right now, I feel a bit hungry for a couple of brownies, the triple chocolate chunk kind; I like to throw in an extra handful or two of semi-sweet chocolate chips, for good measure. Maybe a cold glass of milk would be good, too.

According to Merriam-Webster, hungry means “characterized by hunger or increased appetite.” Okay, that’s probably the kind that would be fixed up by brownies.

On the other hand, a little different light is cast on this feeling when the verb or noun hunger is used. M-W says hunger is a “craving or urgent need for food or a specific nutrient; an uneasy sensation occasioned by the lack of food; a weakened condition brought about by prolonged lack of food.”

Near the border of Mexico live some of the hungriest children in the United States. They are fortunate if they have one meal a day, so their hunger seldom is satisfied. They suffer from chronic malnutrition, so they have a hard time concentrating on schoolwork. They know what it means to be hungry.

In many places along the border, especially in New Mexico, Arizona, and west of the Rio Grande valley in Texas, the land itself is hungry—not rich or fertile—barren.

Other meanings of the word hungry are “eager or avid (as for affection)—highly motivated (as ambition).” Hunger, again, is more intense; it means “a strong desire, a craving,” such as “a hunger for success.” We have also hunger of the spirit—a need for closeness to God.

Those children who suffer from desperate hunger along the Mexican border can’t worry much about feeling these other kinds of hunger. Physical hunger, in the sense they experience it, is a symptom of a basic survival need; those needs must be met before any other. That’s how God made us, so that we would survive.

I looked up hunger for the purpose of writing this blog entry. And I am amazed to see the resources Merriam-Webster has included on the definition page for the word. After the definitions, M-W has a list of organizations who help with world hunger, as well as physician-reviewed articles about it. For example, this paragraph from Healthline is part of a linked article there:

Hunger is the physiological drive to find and eat food. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), hunger is the world's major health risk. Globally, one in three people suffer from chronic hunger, which is a result of a lack of food security. Food insecurity means people do not have access at all times to nutritionally adequate food. There are three dimensions to food insecurity: a lack of (1) purchasing power (lack of money or resources), (2) accessibility (ability to get food), and (3) availability (amount of food). In the United States, hunger is caused by poverty, whereas in developing countries it is caused by poverty, war, civil unrest, or an undeveloped economy.

God tells us to feed the hungry, care for the poor. We could do much more to help than we do; we don't even have to deal with things like war, civil unrest, or an undeveloped economy. And America is covered up in food.

Oh, well, so much for a word study!

Hunger

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2007/09/hunger.html

Thursday Thirteen--K.I.S.S.!

Have you ever noticed that we’ve become a nation of abbreviaters? We speak in initials and parts of words. Why? Maybe it’s because we are always in such a rush? Here are some of the most annoying ones I see often:

1. abs—This was the first one I ever noticed, about 15 years ago. On the front cover of a magazine—Redbook, I think—was a proclamation about developing your “abs.” What? Do I have abs? I couldn’t imagine what that was. For a few minutes I felt like I was in the twilight zone. (I need to develop mine.)

2. lol—I’m not sure why this annoys me. It just does. Maybe because it is so far from a real laugh.

3. lo-cost refi—Entirely too much refi is going on these days, so I guess it has become a household word.

4. e.d.—Well, maybe this is much more prevalent than I ever thought. Even Bob Dole proclaimed remedies for it.

5. i.b.s.—I heard this a couple of weeks ago. A friend said she was very concerned about her friend Charlie because he had severe i.b.s. What?

6. social—People in our school office can’t say the whole thing. When I need some information about a student, I am asked, “Okay, what’s his social?” Well, I don’t know, I want to say; I heard he likes to party on Thursday nights.

7. QEP—In our work we have the QEP, and it’s very important. I realized its importance a while before I ever figured out what it was: Quality Enhancement Program.

8. IE—Ditto IE, which is of high importance among colleges and universities, all of which are subject to strict re-accreditation standards: institutional effectiveness.

9. meds—Did you take your meds? What meds do you take? Keep the cost of your meds under control.

10. celebs—This is something people have gone nutty over today. In a recent TV interview with O.J. Simpson’s lawyer, a man stood beside the lawyer wearing a hat that said, “I love famous people!” He cheered for the lawyer every time he finished a sentence.

11. EPT—Long ago we used to call our diagnostic English Proficiency Test by these initials until it came to mean what it means now. We changed it to the BET (Basic English Test).

12. rep—Who is your insurance rep? Well, aren’t you concerned about your rep?

13. nunya!—That’s short for “none of your business.” Or maybe the more modern version is MYOB.

BTW, K.I.S.S.!!! (Do you know what that means? Or is that a local one?)

Thursday Thirteen--K.I.S.S.!

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2007/09/thursday-thirteen-kiss.html

Fear Not.

Fear God . . . and fear nothing else.

--John Beckling

Fear Not.

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2007/09/fear-not.html