AMERICA IN PERIL

This began as an email, as I forwarded this video to my list.  I decided to copy it here.



Friends, just in case there are still a few who think the concern over the spread of Islam is just a tempest in a teapot, I urge you to watch this five-minute video.  Much of Europe has already fallen, and whatever remains is under serious threat.  It IS happening.  

CLICK HERE

It can, and it will, happen in America.  It has already begun.  Just Google "Dearborn, Michigan."  Our leadership is doing nothing to stop it, and is in fact paving the way, by allowing religious freedom to be suppressed right here on our own soil.  That young man who found his mike turned off as he gave his valedictory speech and dared to mention the name of Jesus?  Remember that one, just a few weeks ago?  Well, what do you think would have happened if he had thanked Allah, or praised Mohammed?  Nothing, that's what.  Nothing.  No one would have dared to turn off the mike, or criticize his speech.  His guarantee of freedom of religion would have been honored and protected, because the Muslims would have had a global tantrum and accused us of not honoring our own Constitution by denying them their religious freedom.  However, when it's a Christian involved, we must be careful not to "offend" anyone.  I've heard of double standards before, but this one raises the bar.

In the past couple of weeks, a young woman at Sonoma State University in California was told by her boss at her campus job that she had to remove or hide the cross necklace she wore.  She didn't, and he insisted.   She pushed back and took it to the mat.  At that point, the chancellor intervened, apologized and said she could wear it.  He should have done so, and he did.  The point here, however, is that the girl's boss apparently felt that he would be supported in his orders to the girl.  The political climate, and the examples he's seen in the news recently, evidently gave him the courage to tell her she couldn't wear her cross.  Now, let's suppose she had been wearing a hijab - the headscarf Muslim women wear, or even the all-covering burqa.  Would he have told her she had to remove her scarf, or wear regular clothing instead of the tent?  Certainly not, because again, there would have been a Muslim backlash, a screaming hissyfit, probably complete with a few random bombings.

Why is this?  It's simple.  America is running scared.  Our government hasn't got the guts, the backbone, the cojones, whatever you want to call it, to stand up to these invasive extremists.  Barack has said he is a Christian.  Well, many years ago, my husband told me that you never listen to what a person says, instead you watch what they do.  He was right.  Our fearless leader fawns over Islam in all its manifestations, and is strangely silent or absent when Christians are being abused. 
 
I realize that probably 95% of the people to whom I'm sending this are aware of the problem.  I'm hoping you'll send this on, like ripples in a pond, because there may be a little percentage on your list, like mine, who haven't yet awakened to the threat we face.  If we keep things like this going, maybe somewhere in those ripples an answer will emerge.
 
"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from Heaven, and will forgive their sins and heal their land!"  II Chronicles 7:14.
 
This is our only hope.  "If God be for us, who can be against us?"  Romans 8:31.  There's just one little hitch in this.  We must first be "for" God.  When you look at the moral climate of America today, drive by our empty churches, listen to the garbage our children are being fed in their "music" and other entertainment, consider that the very mention of God's name can be a punishable offense in some places, can we even dare to think that God would be "for" us, when we're so blatantly against Him?
 
America needs to wake up, and realize that we have only one hope.  We need to remember that He will not always battle for us, when we persist in ignoring Him.  Oh, He will not abandon us completely.  Like He has done over and over with Israel, He will always preserve a remnant, just as He promised.  But He did let them take their lumps in the past, and He may very well allow us to take ours. I don't think I want to find out what those "lumps" will be.  Today, more than ever, I'm glad I'm old.  Still, my heart breaks for my grandchildren.

DID YOU KNOW FLOWERS COULD SING?

I received this video link in an email from a friend, and sent it on to my family and friends. Then I thought to preserve it here on this little old blog. Here's what went out:

Thank you, Suzanne! This is a keeper. I've added a few corroborating scripture references. Enjoy, everyone! You'll find the link to the video waaay down at the bottom!

Isaiah 55:12 For you shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

Luke 19:40 And he (Jesus) answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.

Psalm 148:5 Let every created thing give praise to the LORD, for he issued his command, and they came into being.

I Chron. 16:31-33 31 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice: and let men say among the nations, The Lord reigneth. 32 Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof: let the fields rejoice, and all that is therein. 33 Then shall the trees of the wood sing out at the presence of the Lord.


This is enough for me. If the mountains and the hills sing, and the trees clap their hands, and the very rocks cry out in praise of our Lord, I have no problem believing that the blooming of a flower is a song of praise as well.

I have a little plaque in my garden that reads "The kiss of the sun for pardon, the song of a bird for mirth. One is nearer God's heart in a garden than anywhere else on earth." It had been in my mom's garden for years, and I brought it home when we closed out their house. I thank God for parents who brought me up to know and love God, and to recognize the beauty He has placed all around us.

I sit at my big old window and look out over my yard, and there are already flowers everywhere. A bed of pansies is just so bright and beautiful, you can almost hear their voices when you walk near. The "windflowers" (ranunculas) are all dressed in red and blue, and sway in joyful song, in rhythm with the vagrant breezes this morning. A few daffodils have opened, their little center trumpets surely praising God. Some hyacinths have added their soft, pink and blue voices to the chorus, and judging by the fat buds I see rising, it won't be long until the rich altos and mezzo-sopranos of the irises will be heard. The roses have been deeply pruned, but it won't be long until they'll rise up, bud out, and take up the chorus. A few tiny crocuses remain, their little peeping voices must sound to the Lord like our little children sound to us when they sing at church.

Song - a gift within itself. The song of birds, the songs of children, the magnificent presentations of a mighty choir, the rumble of the voice of my husband so many years ago - a little off-key, but who cared? God surely gave us the gift of song to gladden our hearts, and how lovely to realize that the very flowers are singing, too. l will never look at a beautiful bloom again, without hearing its voice as well.

Blessings!

Lanni

Click : La vida de las flores

Children and Santa Claus - good or bad?

This little commentary has been brewing in my mind for some time now. It was sparked when I overheard a very earnest young woman remark that she did not allow her children to believe in Santa Claus, because he was just a myth, and once her children found that out, she feared they would not believe anything else she told them. To her credit, she was particularly fearful that they would not believe what she told them about God.

Well, I thought, she has a point. And so began the "brewing" process in my mind. Was she right? It all sounded so logical, so I resolved to give it a good "think" and see where I ended up. Here it is.

In all honesty, however well-meaning she might have been, I believe she was wrong. First of all, I have my own experience as an example. I was told of Santa Claus, he left me gifts each Christmas morning, my grandfather pointed out what was probably a passing airplane in the night sky on Christmas Eve, and told me it was Santa's sleigh, and trust me, I was a believer! I got in an awful schoolyard fight in the first grade, with a smug little girl who laughed at me for believing. I think that awful child is still there, in the first grade, over sixty-five years later, and she's still trying to burst other children's Christmas bubbles. Why don't her parents sit on her?

Anyway, as a believer in Santa Claus, I can attest that when I finally grew old enough to reason it for myself, and knew that the old gent was not real, at least not in the physical sense, I do not recall that my faith in God ever wavered. It was never even a question in my mind. Santa is a lovely story told by parents to their children, to foster the wonder and joy of childhood. God is a real presence, the One who fills that God-shaped void we all have in our hearts. The results of His existence are all around us, in nature, in the magnificent skies and all that lies therein, in the tiny smile on the face of a sleeping baby, and in the love we feel in our hearts for our families and our friends. Oh yes, God is real, and children accept that as they grow older, if they are taught, just as easily as they accepted old Santa when they were little.

Let's examine Santa for a moment. Every child knows that Santa is all-seeing, all-knowing, and wise. They know he wants the child to be good and loving and kind, just like Santa himself. He loves us, unconditionally. Oh, he expects good behavior, but if a child repents on Christmas Eve and decides he will always be "good", he finds toys, not switches, under the tree on Christmas morning. Santa always offers a second chance.

So - along about the time that a child begins to realize that Santa is not physically real, in most cases he is beginning to hear references to God and if his parents are God-followers, he is being taught about the wonders of God, and the love He has for us. He is hearing about the greatest Gift of all, the Son of God, who was given by God and who indeed gave Himself for us, to atone for our sins, because perfection is not possible for us. We just can't do it in our human frailty, but God has offered us a second chance. He loves us that much.

Some children do not have parents who teach them about God, but there is still that God-shaped void in everyone's heart, that need that causes us to seek an answer. I once had the opportunity to counsel with a young woman who wanted so much to trust God, but because we refer to Him as our Father, and she had been raised by a cruel and abusive father, she just couldn't let go and trust. Finally, she said the words that gave me the clue, and God gave me the words to respond. She said she wished her father could have been different. I asked her what kind of father she wished he had been. She replied, "One who really loved me." I said, "Well, God is that Father that you dreamed of. You didn't have a proper earthly father, but God has been there all the time. He does love you. All you have to do is reach out and acknowledge Him, and He will be your Father from now on." It was the answer she needed, and I thank God for giving me that answer.

So, maybe old Santa isn't a villain, a destroyer of children's fantasies. Maybe he's a gentle introduction to the wonders of God's love, in a form a tiny child can understand. A toddler isn't going to understand much about God, but they sure do catch on to the Santa thing early on.

It's not hard to imagine a loving father or mother, with a questioning child on their lap, explaining that Santa is real, in the sense that love and kindness and generosity are real. They can tell how he represents the loving spirit of God, who is indeed very real. Just as Santa brings joy and fun into a child's life, God brings joy and peace and yes, even fun, into the lives of His children, and it makes Him happy when we are happy, and it pleases Him when we go out and try to do good for others, and love each other.

One more thing, and I think this fits in here somewhere. My beloved former pastor, who has now gone on to be with God, used to carry candy in his pockets all the time, little wrapped candies. When the children in the church would see him coming, they would run to him, waiting for a piece of candy. He always ruffled their hair, called them "little part-time angels" and listened to their little stories. He explained it to me once, when he said, "I figure if I can get them to love the messenger, maybe later on they'll listen to the message." That's how I see Santa. He's a messenger, a forerunner, a stage-setter. Children learn to love the spirit of Santa, and it's not hard to transfer that love to the very real Spirit of God, and to trust Jesus, the one Gift above all other gifts.

Merry Christmas!

HAPPY FALL, Y'ALL!

I absolutely love this time of year. Spring is beautiful, all fresh and green and flowers everywhere, but this time - autumn - has a charm all its own. My yard is just beautiful right now. It's a bit shaggy, (OK, it's a LOT shaggy). The grass could use mowing, and leaves are lying everywhere on the lawn, and piling up in billowy drifts in the flowerbeds. Those that remain on the trees (and there are still a LOT) are a beautiful mixture of yellow, gold, red and still quite a lot of green). The crape myrtles quit blooming a few weeks ago, and are almost finished shedding their leaves, but the ones that still cling are a brilliant red. The biggest tree, or trees - it's actually a clump of six trunks - is now completely bare. My prized little Satomi dogwood out front is now in its second year, has grown several inches, and I think is going to make it. Right now it's sporting ruby-red, crinkly leaves and it's lovely. I'm hoping that next spring it will set the gorgeous blooms so typical of a dogwood, and which will result in beautiful red berries for next fall.

The planned-for reblooming iris are putting on their show. That was one idea of mine that actually worked out like I planned. I love iris, and have them growing all over the yard. Their bloom time, of course, is in the spring, and they put on a spectacular display then. Certain ones, though, are classified as "remontant", which means they will bloom again in the fall. I had a half dozen or so of those, scattered around the yard. Having one lone plant blooming here, another there, just isn't very impressive, so my friend Joe and his helper created a new flowerbed, up fairly close to the house, easily seen from my window. We took "pups" from the iris (iris can be both singular and plural) that I knew would rebloom, and planted them in the new bed. I also ordered about a dozen more from my favorite iris supplier. It's paying off - I've had a lovely display of iris out there for the past couple of weeks, and next year they will do even better. The blooms are surviving the colder weather very well, though I suspect a real freeze will get them. No matter, the plants will survive.

There are roses blooming all around the yard. The knockouts along the fences are blooming, and some of the bushes in the rose island are sporting fat buds and lovely full-blown roses. The impatiens on the back fence haven't felt the nip of winter yet, so are still blooming, though the plants look a bit tattered. The periwinkles I put around the pond last spring are nearly two feet tall and blooming madly. Of course, the pansies and snapdragons Joe just planted are blooming, and will continue to do so, even after winter hits. The lantana beside the path is still covered with yellow blooms, to the delight of the last stragglers of the butterflies that have moved through here for the past few weeks. There are mums blooming in random placement, the result of potted gifts after some occasion or maybe an illness - I always plant them after their initial bloom is done - just find a place and stick them in the ground. They will bloom every fall for years! Then, of course, all the nandina bushes (about fifteen in all, scattered around both front and back yards) are wearing great huge clumps of bright red berries, like Christmas ornaments. So pretty!

It smells of autumn out there. Spring graces our noses with the rich scent of new-mown grass, and bursting flower buds. Summer smells of heat and dry grass and someone's barbecue grill, and the promising scent of rain, if you're lucky. Winter freezes one's nose, but the fresh, clean smell of ice or snow or even just cold air somehow makes it through. Fall has its own unique scent, an earthy smell, an aroma of dry, crunchy leaves, and wood smoke from some impatient person's fireplace.

The things one can see from this window at this time of year! The birds are not as plentiful as they are in the summer, when life is good and they hang out around the feeders and seem to especially enjoy the birdbath. They'll be back in hungry numbers when the weather gets very cold, and especially if there's ice and snow, and while the birdbath will be ignored, the feeders and the flat feeding stones will be popular again. However, right now, with flowers and grasses everywhere going to seed, the birds are very independent. They don't need my meager offerings, their Father is feeding them abundantly right now, helping them store up a little fat for the cold that's to come. Once it arrives, and all the natural seeds have been eaten, they will accept my bread, crackers, suet cakes, cereal and store-bought seed, and will consider me to be God's emissary, charged with the responsibility of feeding them temporarily.

This autumnal dip in the bird numbers, however, does not mean that there's nothing to see here. The squirrels make up for the birds, never doubt it! They are out in numbers. They're frantically scurrying around, searching in and beneath the pear tree for an overlooked pear (they won't find any) and shuttling between my neighbor's pecan tree and my flowerbeds, burying a stash. I wouldn't mind, if they'd go back and dig them up later, but the little critters forget where they are, and in the spring I'll have a small forest of pecan trees sprouting in the beds.

They planted some of the peanuts-in-the-shell that I put out for them and the bluejays last spring, and when the peanuts sprouted, I allowed a few of the vines to remain. They flourished, there were peanuts in clusters beneath the ground. I left them too, and now the squirrels have returned and harvested their crop. Surprisingly, they replaced the soil where they dug the peanuts up, and I actually had to dig to be sure they're gone. They are!

The level of activity out there is high. I wish I had half their energy! They work hard, but still find time to play, and carry out their little flirtations. Two females have scouted out my nest boxes, and one, maybe both, have staked their claim. There will be babies in those boxes in the very early spring.

I love this time of year. Spring, I guess, is my favorite, when the yard has been cleaned up and groomed, and new bloomers planted, and all is bright and colorful and tidy. Summer is a struggle, with the heat, but the roses and lantana and a few other things thrive in it. Winter is a time of rest and repose, with only a few things popping up with a bit of color here and there. But Fall, that transition from summer's heat to winter's chill, is such a lovely, carefree time. Weeds have given up, neatness doesn't seem to count anymore, and the yard is just a somewhat untidy place of leaves and random flowers, where kids and dogs can romp, squirrels can dig with impunity, and the gardener can just relax and enjoy the casual beauty of it all.

God is good.

WHO FIRED THAT SHOT?

http://www.moonbattery.com/archives/2010/11/a-shot-across-o.html

Folks, this is really scary. I'll admit, I know nothing of the credentials or credibility of those who have prepared this and started it on its way. I'll grant that this event will probably end up in the same vault where the Roswell files are hidden - never proven, but never disproven either.

I'm not really hiding under my bed, thinking that the Chinese are about to overrun America. I do not believe that will happen. They won't need to resort to this, they'll just simply call in the loans!

Be that as it may, I have to say - what really scares me the most is that many, if not most of us are fully prepared to believe it. Our confidence in our government is so shaky right now, that we are prepared to believe that our defenses have been so weakened that something like this just might be true. We can believe that our own political structure, our own government and our defenses appear to the rest of the world to be so weak and so poorly supported that China or anyone else can just take a pot shot at us and get away with it.

The Islamic Arab world did it on 9/11, and got away with it. Granted, no "official" government was involved, so we couldn't go to war, like we did after Pearl Harbor. No, they're too smart for that now. Like the monkey using the cat's paw to pull his chestnuts out of the fire, the Islamic nations are using the deluded extremists among their people to do the dirty work for them. How do we retaliate? We can't!

Like I said, the scariest part is that we're prepared to believe this was a "shot across our bow" and nothing was done about it. Well, this is one American who just doesn't believe that our historic American spirit is dead. Maybe our leaders are running scared, maybe they're wimps, maybe they're even subversives intent on destroying us from within. That I CAN believe. However, I also believe in the remnants of patriotism, the last shreds of the spirit that fought WWI, WWII and that still is ready to try to protect the weak and liberate the oppressed where we find them, and that will most definitely defend our own shores.

I'd like to make a prediction here. I predict that if China or any other nation actually launches an attack against us, and our highly-questionable leaders don't respond immediately and forcefully, there is going to be an uprising of the American people that will make the Caine Mutiny look like a child's tea party. Hey, that's pretty good! A tea party. Where have I heard that before?? Seems to me that the American people have fired a "shot across the bow" of their own. Did you hear it, Mr. President? Are you listening?

HOW MUCH MORE ARE WE GOING TO TAKE?

It's hard to believe, but the lunacy contest continues. The idiots are on parade. It began with Ms. Napolitano and her daft Homeland Security department, with their outrageous policies and techniques. In their infinite wisdom (ha) they decided that we must now all pass through an x-ray scanner (creatively named a "back-scatter imaging machine") that provides a nude picture of your body to whomever happens to be seated at the viewing screen. It may or may not store, forward, transmit and/or sell those images to whatever voyeur might be interested - depends on whose accusation or denial you choose to believe. It also may or may not be harmless - no one has come forth with a total, unchallenged opinion on that. "Oh, just go on and pass through it, it probably won't hurt you."

Should you object to that, your option is to submit to a procedure lovingly named the "enhanced pat-down." The enhancement is that you get groped and felt up apparently quite thoroughly by a "same-gender officer." Well, that's comforting. Girls, have you seen some of those agents? Scary! I think I might just prefer a male agent!

Now, here's where the other side of the idiot's challenge comes in. The Muslims have flatly declared that their women will NOT be subjected to either screening procedure. No nudie photos, and no groping. Can't say I blame them, in fact, I'm on their side in this one. However, I'm pretty sure my two year old grandson could see the disparity, the mind-bending violation of American rights that is inherent in this whole situation. Just in case someone doesn't get it, though, I'll spell it out.

The whole purpose of all this touchy-feely stuff is to identify and stop potential terrorists, which of course have been Muslim extremists, about 99.9% of the time. Very few 80-year old nuns or three year old baby girls have proven to be terrorists. So, these Muslims are so concerned about the rights of their women (wow, I got a cramp in my fingers while typing that one!) that they are demanding exemption from the screening, and serious consideration is being given to granting them that exemption. Meanwhile, every non-Muslim American, male and female, who wishes to board an airplane is being felt up in airports all over the nation. How do you teach an innocent child that they are not to permit anyone to touch their bodies in such an intimate way, and then stand there and watch while the child is forced to submit to being groped by a total stranger? Answer that for me, Ms. Napolitano.

There are two points I wish to make, and I'm serious. I want to see Ms. Napolitano, on TV, going through a screening. I want to see her stand in the back-scatter box and allow it to bombard her body with the same radiation the rest of us are being asked to accept. Then I want her to step over to the gropers pen and stand there and submit to the "enhanced pat-down", and let us all see how easy and non-invasive it is. Don't tell us, Janet, show us.

Second, if they really do allow the Muslim women to pass through unscreened in any way, then I will buy or make a burqa, and it will become my traveling garment any time I'm flying commercial. If Muslim men can hire a prostitute and the relationship is called a "temporary wife", and it's legal in Islam, (don't believe me? Google it!) then I can be a "temporary Muslim" on the day I'm flying somewhere.

Where is this insanity going to lead us? When is it going to end? I can only pray that it ends with some voice of reason stepping in and saying "Enough!" - before it ends in a more forceful and destructive way. People have just about had all they're going to take.

TAKE THIS, AMERICA!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxFzFIDbKpg

Oh, dear Lord! How diabolical are those people? And how stupid are we? That mosque is nothing but bait. Very expensive bait, with the added benefit of providing an in-your-face insult to the American people. I doubt you could find so much as a three-year-old child who believes their propaganda of it being a gesture of respect, memorial, good will, etc., ad nauseum. No, it starts off as an insult, and will continue as bait.

Can you imagine what will happen once that monstrosity is erected? It will be egged, spray-painted, maybe even bombed - constantly. It will require a full-time guard, which the city of New York can ill afford to provide. It will be a sore thumb, sticking out there for every American to see, and to resent and hate. It will give the "peaceful" Muslims the thing they love the most - a cause. A reason to cry foul. An excuse to retaliate. They have taunted and insulted the rest of the world for several decades now, and America as well for quite a while, culminating on 9/11.

If this monument to mayhem is built, there will be war. You know it, I know it, and anyone with a teaspoonful of brain cells knows it. That's their plan. The thing will be used to goad, to taunt, to insult America until someone snaps, and the Muslims will then have their reason to escalate the jihad they have already declared against us.

Can you imagine? Suppose you're a New Yorker, who witnessed firsthand the horror on 9/11. You saw people jump to their deaths to avoid the inferno at their backs. You watched in disbelief as the towers buckled, first one, then the other, and collapsed in a flaming heap of torment and death. Maybe you stood in the streets and watched, or ran from the choking clouds of dust and debris that roiled down the canyons of the city. Perhaps you lost a friend, or even a family member in that holocaust. Or maybe you spent the day with your eyes glued to your TV set, as most Americans did, unable to wrap your mind around what you were seeing. We all became New Yorkers on that day.

Maybe you heard the screams from the almost three thousand people who died in that horror. Did you also hear, did you perhaps sense, the chuckles of satisfaction from the masterminds of the attack? They weren't in those planes, they were holed up in a cave somewhere, pulling the strings of their deluded puppets who thought they were earning a one-way ticket to Nirvana when they flew those planes into the buildings. Make no mistake, there are more puppets where those men came from.

Now imagine that you're in New York, standing at Ground Zero, at the memorials that have been erected, and you're remembering what you saw that day. You can still hear the roar, the screech of twisting metal, the screams of the dying. Then, amplified and spreading over the city, you hear the adhan, the Muslim call to prayer, which our President publicly stated was "one of the most beautiful sounds on earth." It is emanating from the huge obscenity that sits just a few yards away. The muzzein is calling the faithful to prayer. And the "peaceful" Muslims, from whose belief system the seeds of evil sprouted on 9/11, will troop inside, remove their shoes, spread out their little rugs and kneel with their faces to the floor, to worship the twisted manifestation of error they call Allah, or God.

With this in mind, how long do you think it will be before someone does something that will light their fuse once again? Build that embodiment of evil, that warehouse of hate, and there will eventually be war. I would hope not, I pray not, but I fear it will indeed happen. Dear God, how much can people take? You can't even carry a Bible publicly in their countries or they'll cut off your head, but they want to build that insulting edifice right alongside Ground Zero? The whole Islamic world is laughing at us now, with Barack Hussein Obama as our president, and they will be rolling in the aisles if this move is accomplished. God help us!