Summer vacation

Don't worry...I seriously doubt any of my kids will come up with any antics to rival young Mr. King up there, but then sometimes I do wonder. The Peanuts have tried a few times to find dinosaur bones in the back yard. This has resulted in a few holes, dangerously on the route to the clothesline, that I've tripped in a few times. I've always managed not to fall or break anything but I keep waiting for my luck to change. It usually does.

Summer school has ended. The Little Prince was the resistant one. He was perfectly happy to be the only one home with me, though I'm sure he would have gotten bored and ended up wanting to go anyway. He agreed to try it once but then ended up sick. By the time he'd heard from the Diva what it was like there really wasn't any talk of a trial basis. He just went one morning and every morning after that. He had a blast and seemed disappointed that it was over. The Boss ended up wanting the weekend to hurry up and end so he could get back to school and friends. The Diva didn't say a whole lot about it outside of answers to my questions but it was obvious she had a blast.

Tomorrow is a dentist appointment for the Boss and then grocery shopping and a few other errands. After tomorrow I have to find a way to keep them busy here. I'm seriously considering kicking them out of the house after breakfast and not letting them back in until lunchtime. Well, mostly seriously anyway.

The "How To" Show: How To Be An Awesome Lutheran Father (Ep. 4)

We've been enjoying the weekend and I haven't been online since Thursday. Nice! Except for the tornado warning that had us in the basement for about an hour in the middle of the night it's been a good time. I was thrilled to find the e-mail notice for this video in my inbox today. Enjoy!

God's page

Come, Holy Spirit!

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

What does this mean? I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.

In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.

In this Christian church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers.

On the Last Day He will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ.

This is most certainly true.

Xp Men: First Class

Solid theology and X-Men. They go together like chocolate and peanut butter.

Have a blessed Pentecost, everyone!

Angels

The Trouble with Angels

Here is a great post on angels. I've never really thought of it before, but angels, as they're accurately described in Scripture (NOT as they're portrayed online and in home decorating parties) are scary creatures. Why else would they ALWAYS have to remind people not to be afraid of them? If they were cute little cherubs or sweet-looking beings helping children get home safely, would it be necessary to do that?

I do agree with the author...I prefer my angels to be winged Pit Bulls than cutsy. Of course, I realize that my Pit Bull is conked out on the floor where a walk has gotten the better of him. Of course, even without the walk he'd be conked out. And the neighbor's long-haired Chihuahua (whose smaller than our cat) has chased him out of his yard before...so maybe not the best analogy.

BTW,. about the picture above. Do you know how hard it is to find a decent picture of an angel? Most are cute little cherubs, most that aren't are female and rather sexy. The few males you find are generally hot. This was the only one that didn't look like he belonged on the cover of a bodice-ripper...and I'm not entirely convinced of that either.

My addiction

About a year ago, after a lifetime of abstaining due to not being able to stand the taste, I began a love affair with coffee. It started off with Nescafe mixed with creamer and sugar. (That was the trick...I'd always tried it black before...blech!) Then I actually began not only drinking Turkish coffee with family but to make it myself at home (though with almost as much sugar as coffee). I don't make it here because I don't have the right kind of coffee. The one time I stopped by the shop to get some they were out and I haven't made it back yet.

For Christmas Baba gave me the lovely machine you see above. I had heard of them and my brother gave my SIL one and she'd fixed me a cup before, but I thought it would be a waste of money since the K-cups were more expensive. However Baba insisted and who am I to argue? Imagine my joy when I found with the machine a reusable filter that allowed me to use my own coffee...cool machine and still save money on the coffee.Yeah!

However when I first descaled it (after using for 3 months, per instructions) I started having problems. And the problems continued when I made coffee as well. I received good customer service and tried their advice. I now descale each month since we're on a well and have hard water. That was still only limited help since it still acts wonky now and then. So I switched to using only K-cups so I didn't have to worry about using coffee that was ground correctly to work in the reusable filter. Not a problem. However, it still acted wonky. {sigh}

Last week was the last time I descaled it and I had to call the company again. She walked me through the process of cleaning the needle (not included in the manual-they have to walk you through it the first time) and it worked beautifully the rest of the day. But still had trouble the next morning. I started flushing it with water before the first use of the day and that seemed to help a bit.

Between my first and second cups today I made 4 cups of tea so you would think that would be a good flushing...it still acted wonky on my second cup. So, I called the company again and they're sending me a replacement. A few days ago I joined the FB page for the company and there are a lot of people getting replacements so apparently the machines are pretty sensitive. Good to know with the new one.

Although I've had a hard time with this one I have to say I still recommend them. There are people on FB who love theirs and have never had a problem. There are those who have had them replaced a few times but still love them. The company has great customer service and a good warranty on their product so you have nothing to lose. Just be sure to register your machine. I don't usually bother to but it's essential in this case. I don't even have to send back the old one...just one small part of it that's required for using it. Much better when paying postage!

So, what do you want to bet that from now until I receive the replacement mine works perfectly?

For once I like a segment with him in it

Brigitte Gabriel is someone whose opinion I respect. She is fearless. And for once I see Bill Maher in something I can enjoy watching. One caveat...yes, they're laughing at the story behind this segment. No, the horrible crime committed was not humorous. They are not laughing at the crime but at the idiot who committed it. So if you feel the urge to laugh, don't beat yourself up about it.

So that's what it really means! ;)

Feed a Fever? No kidding!

A couple of weeks ago I was sick with some upper respiratory thingy. Drugs were half of my breakfast and I'm nor really exaggerating. Turned into an ear infection. Then just as I was better and could bend over and pick up the house without getting dizzy or nauseous, the Little Prince came down with mastoiditis and the Boss was apparently getting over 5th Disease. However this weekend was good, the antibiotics are doing the trick and this morning I dropped all 3 kids off at summer school. The Boss was saying all weekend how he couldn't wait until Monday he was having so much fun. The Little Prince, who pretty much wanted to stay home, headed off eager to try it out. However the Diva was complaining of a tummy ache but no fever so she went, unhappily.

I headed straight to the park, figuring that when we finished our walk the pharmacy and post office would be opened for my first set of errands. However, as I got the iPod hooked to my pocket, cell phone in the other pocket, it rang. Uh oh! Yep, the school nurse. The Diva was there with a tummy ache and a fever of 101. Man, that was fast. So we headed back to school with hopes that a walk will be in the cards sometime this week.

But on the bright side my little bird is eating like a pig. She's 2 PB & J sandwiches, 3 oranges and two helpings of chocolate-covered animal crackers. And she's still hungry! What happened to her?!

Oh, well, I'm thrilled that her appetite is huge right now I don't care. She usually gets full before everyone else and she's my little *blow away in a stiff breeze* girl so I'll enjoy it while I can.

Everlasting Extras: Gay Marriage

Here is an excellent explanation of the Lutheran view of homosexuality. In our modern world, anyone who disagrees with another is accused of not validating them. It's easier to play the victim card than to just accept the fact that people will disagree with the choice you make. Some people will not accept the choices you've made on how to live your life. And that's OK. If people don't agree with you and your choices, they're not hating you. Loving you is not be equated with unconditional acceptance. Quite the contrary. Loving you means not letting you continue in your sin without saying something. The worst thing Christians can do is remain silent. It helps no one and allows others to head into disbelief. Because if they believe what they want, they won't believe the Truth.

The Life and Death of Jack Kavorkian

Bloomberg Obit Tells Facts About Macabre Kavorkian

The Real Jack Kevorkian

OK, I realize now I was misspelling his name the first two links. Oops! I feel so bad...about as bad as felt for his *patients*.

This past week saw the death of Dr. Death. Somehow people got the mistaken impression that he wanted to help people die with dignity. He was full of compassion for those who were terminally ill and wanted to die on their own terms instead of being left to linger and becoming a burden to their families. I even though he had those motives as well because I, like many Americans, only heard what was shared on network news. Unfortunately for his victims, what he referred to as *patients*, that was not his intent. Listen and read the above links carefully. Those of you only know what the media shared will be shocked.

I posted the first two links on FB and an old friend went ballistic. He honestly considers Dr. Death to be a hero. He admires him for going against the status quo. He claims that I and other friends who posted in agreement with what is said in the links are using our opinions as facts while he blatantly disregards the use of Kevorkian's own words cited in the articles. He also brought the euthanizing of animals in the argument and claims to see no line of demarcation between humans and animals...and therein lies the rub.

When theory is taught as fact in classrooms from elementary through university, you run the risk of totally screwing up people's sense of our place in the world. We've gone from recognizing that we are created in God's image to thinking we're just another species of animal. We expect it from agnostics but from Christians? Christians claiming that we can't speak for God or claim to know His will? But we do know His will. We have His words, we have His Word. How can anyone claim we can't know His will? We may not know everything there is to know, but we know enough to know that killing is wrong and that truth is truth. We know what we need to know.

Modern day Antigone

Haleh Sahabi: Our Antigone in Tehran

Another example of the respect shown to women. When I read this I had to wonder at their motives. Of course, she is a dissenter, like her father before her. They did advocate for human rights, which Islam violently opposes in all forms. The author's description of her as a "distinguished Quranic hermeneutician" caught my eye. Most of the Muslims I've come into contact with as a teacher believe in education and want their children, sons and daughters, to succeed academically. I've known many professionla women who are also conservative, devout Muslims. However, Islam doesn't seem to care much for women who are too well-educated in Islamic theology. A woman who actually studies theology could be a threat to the powers that be...namely the men who view them as their property and wish to maintain the status quo.

Namely, Jesus

Speaking of...

Alleged Libyan rape victim deported from Qatar back to Libya

I feel for this woman. In order to not be accused of fornication and executed, she went to a hotel where she told western reporters what happened. Now she has been sent back by the Qatari government. What were they thinking?! Never mind. Read the previous post and it's easy to see. So much for respecting women.

I can't really recommend you read the comments after the article, unless you like to be reminded of the ignorance of others on the internet. However, it never hurts to read other viewpoints, no matter how poorly they're expressed.

Today's musings

Like I said yesterday, I'm reading The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) by Robert Spencer. It's an excellent book. One of the myths (and there are many) is that women have more rights in Islam than in Christianity. But you know what?

• The Qur'an and Islamic law treat women as nothing more than possessions of men.

• The Qur'an sanctions wife-beating.

• Islam also allows for child marriage, the virtual imprisonment of women in their homes, "temporary marriage" (i.e. prostitution - but only for Shi'ites), among other things. ( I remember hearing years ago about militants in Algeria forcing girls into *marriage* and then divorcing them a few days later. Supposedly this was more *respectful* than raping her...not to mention wouldn't get the man in trouble...not that he would have for rape anyway.)
  

A horrible example of Islam's respect for women occurred in Saudi Arabia in 2002 when 15 girls were killed in a fire at their school. The police and firemen were prevented from opening the doors to let the girls out by the muttawa, or religious police that really control the country. Why did they do that? Because since the school was for girls and only women were in the school, the girls weren't wearing their abayas and hijabs. The muttawa preferred that the girls die instead of risk being seen without their required coverings. Never mind that they were all fully dressed!

In order for a woman to accuse a man of rape, she must have 4 male witness to the crime. If she can't produce them, then she has just confessed to adultery and usually finds herself sentenced to death. We've heard in recent years of women being sentenced to stoning for supposedly committing adultery and only international pressure might spare her. Mr. Spencer, in each chapter, compares Mohammad to Jesus, by quoting their teachings on the subject at hand. Let's see how the religion that brings such great respect for women measures up, shall we?

"Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle. They said to Him, 'Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?' They said this to test Him, so that they could have some charge to bring against Him. Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with His finger. But when they continued asking Him, He straightened up and said to them, 'Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.' AgainHe bent down and wrote on the ground. And inresponce, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders. So He was left alone with the woman before Him. then Jesus straightened up and said to her, 'Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?' She replied, 'No one, sir.' Then Jesus said, 'Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.' " John 7:53-8:11

"There came to him (the Holy Prophet) a woman from Ghamid and said: allah's Messenger, I have committed adultery, so purify me. He (the Holy Prophet) turned her away. On the following day she said: Allah's Messenger, Why do you turn me away?...By Allah, I have become pregnant. He said: Well, if you insist upon it, then go away until you give birth to the child. When she was delivered she came with the child wrapped in a rag and said: Here is the child whom I have given birth to. He said: Go away and suckle him until you wean him. When she had weaned him, she came to him...She said, Allah's Apostle, here is he as I have weaned him and he eats food. He (the Holy Prophet) entrusted the child to one of the Muslims and then pronounced punishment. Andshe was put in a ditch up to her chest and he commanded people and they stoned her. Khalid bin Walid came forward with a stone which he flung at her head and there spurted blood on the face of Khalid and so he abused her. Allah's Apostle heard his (Khalid's) curse that he had hurled upon her. Thereupon he (the Holy Prophet) said: Khalid, be gentle. By Him in Whose Hand is my life, she has made such a repentance that even if a wrongful tax-collector were to repent, he would have been forgiven. Then giving command regarding her, he prayed over her and she was buried."

The above is from pg. 75 of Spencer's book.

As I've said on my blog before, while I have no love or respect at all for Islam, I do have a great deal of respect for those Muslims who have touched my life in such a positive way. I've been blessed to know some wonderful Muslim women who've been such an influence on my own spiritual life by the example they set. However, I will not be blinded to the violence and hatred taught by Mohammad and his Qur'an. I also will only read books and articles, etc. from those who study Islam carefully and get their information straight from Islamic sources and approved translations of the Qur'an and Hadith. There's enough misinformation on both sides without contributing to it.

Ascension Day

Ascension Day is the coronation celebration of our Lord as He is proclaimed to be King of the universe. Jesus' ascension to the Father is His entrance to the greater existence beyond the confines of time and space, being no longer bound by the limitations of His state of humiliation. Jesus now sits at the right hand of God, which Luther correctly taught is everywhere, having again taken up the power and authority that were His since before time. Yet our Lord is present with us who remain bound by time and space. He is with us as true God and true man, exercising His rulership in the Church through the means of grace which He established: His Word and His Sacraments. We mortals in those means of grace can grasp the King of the universe and receive a foretaste of the feast to come. -Treasury of Daily Prayer

The Triune God and Islam

Quite a title for this post, huh?

Tonight I listened to THIS podcast with Pastor Will Weedon on Issues, Etc. Before that I listened to THIS one. It was good timing. No, it was excellent timing. Earlier today I started reading The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) by Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch. It's the 3rd book of his that I've read since moving home last summer. You know the book has to be good if the praise for his work on RevivingIslam.com is, "May Allah rip out his spine from his back and split his brains in two, and then put them both back, and then do it over and over again. Amen." Seriously. I'm not kidding. The quote is right on the cover of his book.

Something I've noticed about Islam and it's scholars...the amount of their apologetic that seems to basically consist if trying to refute Christianity. So much time is spent in the Koran and other Islamic writings making points of what they do not believe. I know there's plenty out there about what they actually DO believe, but pay attention as you watch videos on YouTube or read articles by Muslims. It's not just my imagination.

While you're at it, regardless of your denomination, be sure you know what you believe and why you believe it. Some things that Muslims claim Islam teaches can tickle the ears, especially if you're not educated about what it does teach. What I love about Spencer's books is that he gets his information on Islam straight from the source...the Koran, the Hadith, and Islamic scholars...both orthodox and more liberal-minded. Be sure if you want to traipse around in Muslim websites that you have your Christian filters firmly in place.