Friendship

December 16 – Friendship How has a friend changed you or your perspective on the world this year? Was this change gradual, or a sudden burst? (Author: Martha Mihalick)

I have a friend that is the constant in my life. He keeps me grounded. When I get to far out on a limb and half crazy he changes my perspective by throwing me a lifeline and slowly easing me back to sanity.

5 Minutes

December 15 – 5 Minutes Imagine you will completely lose your memory of 2010 in five minutes. Set an alarm for five minutes and capture the things you most want to remember about 2010. (Author: Patti Digh)

The alarm is beeping loudly, in 5 minutes all memories of 2010 will be erased from my mind. While I can, here are a few thoughts I want to try to hold on to, even if only to curiously re-read and ponder.

*God is good, ALL the time. He is always working out circumstances for my good.
*Dad is awesome. He is always there to catch me when I fall or to urge me forward.
*Marc, Billy and Mark are the dearest friends a girl could have.
*I am blessed with a great job.

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Today I ran across Reverb 10. It is an annual event and online initiative to reflect on your year and manifest what’s next. The idea is to use the end of your year as an opportunity to reflect on what's happened, and to send out reverberations for the year ahead. With Reverb 10 - and the 31 prompts their authors have created for you - you'll have support on your journey. Respond to the prompts in any way you wish - this project is designed for you to discover what needs discovering, however's best for you.

I like the idea, 5 minutes is the first of my Reverb 10 entries.

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December 1 - One Word.
Encapsulate the year 2010 in one word. Explain why you’re choosing that word. Now, imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2011 for you?
(Author: Gwen Bell)

BLOCKED

My . I've been in a holding pattern word for 2010 is blocked. All year I've felt blocked--spiritually, emotionally, ctreatively, physically. I'm looking forward to a new year and a fresh start.

Winter Blast!

While the calendar hasn't marked the official start of winter just yet, there is no doubt that winter has made an early arrival to the east coast.

Addendum Dec 15, 2010

I know, I know, this entry was lame. I realized that I had, once again, let far too much time pass between entries so I wanted to quickly post an entry. Good intentions, yes, but not easy to do when
i had writer's block and no time to summon my creative muse. Yeah, I know I could just delete the entry, but what would that accomplish?

NYC Islamic Center

This is a follow-up to my August 11, 2010 blog post:

In a recent Newsweek article, Fareed Zakaria published a thoughtful article on the issue of the proposed Islamic Center to be built in New York City. Zarkaria artfully articulated my own views about the fundamental First Amendment right the ensures freedom of religion to ALL Americans. [Of course, he expressed this position much better than I since he is the Newsweek journalist and I am a mere amateur blogger.] The title of this blog entry is linked to the Newsweek article.

In addition, Zakaria mentions Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, a moderate Muslim clergyman and this book, What’s Right With Islam Is What’s Right With America, to quote part of Zakaria's thoughts on the book, " {Rauf}argues that the United States is actually the ideal Islamic society because it encourages diversity and promotes freedom for individuals and for all religions. His vision of Islam is bin Laden’s nightmare.'

I share the link to Rauf's book here because I think Americans can make a great step toward peace and understanding if we simply make an effort to open our minds to the thoughts and opinions of others. We do not live in a vacuume the United States is only one nation in the world community. To fear and disparage beliefs that we do not know or understand is simply ignorance. Pick up this book, or any other book, with an open mind. Who knows, a little knowledge might give you a fresh look at the issue.

What's Right with Islam: A New Vision for Muslims and the West

Who Dat! Two Dat?

Tonight the New Orleans Saints kick off the 2010 preseason as they face the New England Patriots. This will be our first chance to see them in action since their Super Bowl win. WOW! It still feels so go to say that--the Saints not only made it to the Super Bowl, the WON the game. No matter what happens this season you can't take that away from them.

I've been reading Drew's story in "Coming Back Stronger". It is interesting to read about the team journey to victory from his perspective. It is as if a bunch of rag-tag misfits came together as a team to find redemption. Not only did they rebuild a team that had languished at the bottom of the league for its entire 43 year history, they helped rebuild the city of New Orleans from the devestation of Hurricane Katrina. They gave Orleanians hope and showed them what can result from hard work' determination, and a lot of prayer.



UPDATE: The final score was 24-27. Not bad! Of course, I would have preferred that it be marked in the win column for the Saints, but that's okay. It was a good opportunity to see what the newest players on the team can do.

Why can't we all get along?

I just don't get it. For weeks now I've listened to news reports of people ranting about the proposed mosque to be built in New York City a couple of blocks from ground zero--the site of the 9/11 attack. I do understand the sensitivity of the issue; however, I am disturbed by the outright hatred and intolerance toward Muslims. (By the way-- 1. They do not want to build a mosque, they want to build a PEACE center. 2. There is ALREADY a mosque only 3-4 blocks away from the ground zero site and it has been there for over 40 YEARS. It was there BEFORE the twin towers of the World Trade Center were constructed.)

Hmmm, do we need to be reminded of the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution?

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Freedom of Religion is one of the most important pillars that established the foundation for this country. The first amendment does not guarantee freedom to practice selected religions--it protects ALL religious faiths. If we want to deny the freedom of a religion that is not our own don't you see that we threaten the freedom of our very own religion?

I love this quote:

"He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from opposition; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach himself" ~ Thomas Paine

Have we as a nation really become so partisan and intolerant? I am a Christian and cannot imagine any circumstance that would cause me to turn away from my faith. I am also a Christian that deeply respects other faiths. There are so many common threads that should unite people of all faiths. Why do some people feel so threatened or harbor such hatred that they are compelled to fight against people of different faiths? Take a deep breath folks. Let's try to learn from each other.

On the August 10, 2010 broadcast of the Daily Show Jon Stewart did a great job of illustrating the absurdity. I've posted the link above--just click on the title of this blog entry.

A New Reality

Okay, I guess I am over the cybercrime excitement from the weekend and have settled into a new reality when it comes to using Web 2.0 technology to communicate. I'm not back on Facebook yet, but here I am blogging and my rate of e-mail seems to have remained steady. I haven't even given up on making that one-in-a-million love connection via a dating site--out of all of the social media that I use the dating sites are probably the riskiest, so now that I think about it the hacking incident really didn't change me. We live in a constantly evolving world. As new technologies are introduced we must learn to also evolve and adapt from both the perspective of the new functionality they provide as well as adapt to the need for a different means to stay safe and secure.

Hacked!

Yesterday my Facebook and e-mail accounts were hijacked. Today I am feeling violated and vulnerable. I do not like feeling this way. I've become so dependent on technology and social networking to communicate--now I am feeling isolated and cut off from my world.

It is a bit ironic that I feel safe enough to blog about what I am feeling. Although this is a public venue--since no one responds to my posts it seems like I am talking to myself so for now this remains a 'safe' corner of my cyber world. On a personal note, if anyone out there is reading this I would appreciate hearing from you--right now I am sorely in need of human contact.

My nature is to be open and trusting--this makes me feel the need to be more cautious and put up walls to protect myself. I will have to work hard to make sure that I do not allow this experience to change me. As I write that I realize that it sounds overly dramatic however, I am very serious. There is a great line from Winnie the Pooh: "You can't stay in your corner of the forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes." I realized that I had spent far too long limiting myself to my corner of the forest--the Internet has served as the perfect tool that allows me to step out and explore the forest. Will I now allow fear to send me running back to my safe den for security or will I be able to learn from this experience then brush it off so I can continue to reach out to others? Only time will tell.

LOST

For almost six years now I have faithfully followed the ABC TV series Lost--it is absolutely the BEST show on television. The fun of it has been the constant questions upon questions fans are left with at the end of each episode--yet what we DO figure out is so mentally stimulating that we keep coming back for more. Now in this, the final season, we are finally getting some answers. With only 7 episodes left, until last night, I've had my doubts of whether or not all of the pieces of the puzzle would fall into place and wondered if the writers had enough time to pull all of the loose threads together. No longer do I doubt...in a single hour last night we learn that the island is something akin to Pandora's box and has been holding back evil from flooding into the world with no restraint. We've seen the battle between good vs. evil played out in various characters and story lines over the years, but never before has this foundational element of the series been so clearly defined. It was a very satisfying night of television.

Now I understand!

I could hardly wait to log in to share what God revealed to me this morning in Rick Warren's "Purpose Driven Connection" e-devotional. What a blessing!!!! Rick opened by quoting 2 Corinthians 9:10. Then he challenged us to decide that we will look to GOD ONLY as our source. He said that we often get ourselves in trouble when we confuse the channel with the source. For example, God may use our paychecks as the channel to supply our needs, but God is using our employer as the channel for His provision--and He can shift to another channel anytime He wants. Sometime the channel may dry up, but the source of our every need remains active. God knows our needs and we have to let go and give God the right to choose whatever channel He wants to fulfill the need.

I've said that God is in control of my life yet I have continued to try to figure out ways to solve my own problems. At the same time I've been under the delusion that I got myself into this mess so I have to actively figure out solutions. Oh yes, I've given God credit for my feeble attempts that have only served as temporary, stop-gap measures--the problem is that I have never REALLY let go and allowed God to be God! Forgive me Lord!I know the original topic here is about tithing and I have gotten way off the subject here. It may not make sense to you, but all of this is tied together for me and I just had to publically give God the glory for opening my eyes.

Please continue to pray for me as again I lay my financial, physical, emotional and spiritual needs before God's throne. Pray that the Holy Spirit helps me find the restraint to leave my problems at God's feet and trust Him for His bounty of provision in my life.