Wednesday, January 31, 2007

America Still Desperately Needs God

Or did you already know this? The Sundance festival movie on bestiality made me think again about how far we are from God and leads me to think of other ways we are distant from God as well.

And I think, how long? Americans are good people,showing evidence of our Christian roots, but not good enough. We're still parched and dry, in a desert land far away from God.

Church reflects this more than many other things. The way we worship God, the way we treat God. I was making trips to Canada in desperate attempts to be a part of a church there that was having a phenomenon of the Holy Spirit being poured out. People were getting touched by God in various ways and were coming from all over the world to be there. I had to be there too. The Holy Spirit put a cushion between people that made dealing with people sweeter, I noticed. My own encounters with the Holy Spirit were life changing.

It was costing me every bit of an inheritance and I didn't care. I learned there that one was to treat God as a lover, and to be as a lover in the bedroom with God (don't get grossed out, it's just an analogy) and desire Him. Then the product of that love, a child (i.e., a ministry, service), will come just as naturally as anything and as effortlessly as anything. How few Americans understand this. Americans understand striving, doing, achieving, grabbing, earning. They don't understand being pursued by the lover and the receiving what is not earned.

Revival comes this way, I believe, and is being found by those who have no power in the world. This is a very important point. They have little power or money. Canadians, for example. Their economy is.....sacked.

Anyway, I desire this for America. I have found one church in America that has taken this "fire" back to the States and has carried the vision: River of Life in Raleigh, North Carolina with Dave and Ina Newell. I have visited them and stayed with in the pastor's home and they are as good as they seem! They are the few Americans I know on the same page with me. They have visited this church in Canada a lot too. The name of the Canadian church is Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship.

Monday, January 29, 2007

Naked in Britain




I was just checking out Drudge Report and came across the article about the UK coming out with an Xray technique for looking through clothes as an anti terrorist technique and I thought back to being in England and it kind of made me laugh.

I don't think you want to be looking through my clothes these days, really - not much to see anymore. I don't mean that I don't have weapons, I mean I don't have much to get excited about anymore. "It's embarrassing, really," I can just hear the Brits say.

Although, I wonder just what you can hide inside abdominal fat today, if you wanted to hide a weapon. Might be something to look into. I shouldn't give that one away, if the wrong people are reading this.

Saturday, January 27, 2007

More Americans Take Volunteer Vacations

ABC News Reports

More Americans are choosing to go on philanthropic vacations — along with their extra time and money. Globe Aware, the nonprofit group that organized the McNamaras' Cambodia trip, says enrollment has gone up 40 percent every year since the organization started in 2001.

Last year, more than 65,000 Americans traveled overseas to take part in volunteer vacations, estimates Stefanie Rubin, director of the International Volunteer Programs Association. Organizers say there was a surge of renewed interest after 9/11 and the Asian tsunami in 2004.

"I think it's got people thinking about the world: 'What's out there? What real need is out there?' And how they can connect and be a part of this beautiful world we're in?" says Kimberly Haley-Coleman, the executive director of Globe Aware. "I suspect that there is a growing contingent of people who feel that writing a check to an organization doesn't feel as significant as donating their time. Both are important."

It's not just overseas: After Hurricane Katrina, thousands of volunteers flocked to the Gulf region to help rebuild.

I have felt this same urge, but without the means to carry it out. Important point: "more Americans" means that Americans haven't gone into their little holes since terrorist threats but have been more ready than ever to get up and out and do things for others because we are not cowards and because we care!

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Depressing about Dakota Fanning




This girl has some weird parents. I have been noticing her for some time. She has been in some cute movies like Charlotte's Web where she plays some appropriately cute parts, but she also appears in some disturbing movies where she has to deal with some adult subject matter she shouldn't have to. Then they came out with that line of fashions that she represents where she's being the sexy girl. And now she is in a new movie where she has to play a girl getting raped at 12. I pray for her to turn out OK, as I've wondered what all the exploitation of her career in Hollywood and her unusual upbringing will do to her. Are there any celebrities you feel led to pray for? For some reason Johnny Depp is another one I keep remembering.

Here, years later, all we hear about is Depp. Wow! Now it's 2022!!

Monday, January 22, 2007

Sometimes....you just need a friend to be there for you.



I guess you're not my friend!


an Eden original greeting card

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Question Mark Over...



A 16 year old blogger who was coming on my site said he questioned Walmart way back when I said I liked Walmart, and now I've seen the Frontline special asking if Walmart is good for America and I have to answer, maybe not. See, I wrote a post saying how I liked Walmart and while traveling all over, Walmart has been such a comfort to me. In every smaller town, Walmart has been this beacon of light - definitely a place to turn to for an oil change if nothing else, and a fun place to shop, with some good deals.

But there have been so many questions raised about the place. The boy mentioned the fact that was brought up in the special about relying on young Chinese who work for 50 cents an hour to manufacture products for Walmart, and I've heard about the low wages for their employees. So, a savings goes to us, the consumer, but a huge profit goes to the few on the top.

Recently I've heard about stringent rules about getting late, even in bad weather or getting fired. And the special talked about putting Rubbermaid and an American TV manufacturer out of business. They have forced other businesses to follow them to try to keep up the pace, but in a cut-throat way. They have mowed down small town businesses. They are like a big bulldozer. They are greedy and too powerful. The facts about them are kinda scary.

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Diamond Fantasy Bra for 6 Million $



How about this kingdavid and Gino? (who talked about Cirque Du Soleil and 3,000 dollar undies) ABC News Day in Pictures

A model displays the Diamond Fantasy Bra, jointly designed by Hearts On Fire and Victoria's Secret, in Taipei, Taiwan. The designer bra is studded with 800 karat diamonds and sells for $ 6,108,735.
(Chiang Ying-ying/AP Photo)


BTW Mark Twain reportedly invented or helped invent the bra, can you believe that?

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

The Pursuit of Happyness



Along the lines of black over-comers, Will Smith shines again in this great movie. My family and I saw it on New Year's eve. It is a good story about a decent man struggling to use his talents to finally break through a life of near poverty. He got a tip from a stock broker that if he was good with figures and good with people he could make it. This role was appropriately played by Will Smith who is an African American with a great attitude. He is playing a black man who overcame any racial obstacles with a good attitude.

It has great family values - a father fighting to take care of his son. I didn't realize that Will's real life son plays the son in the movie. At one point, credit is given to God for his success, showing his faith in God. It's a must-see.

Of course, it brings up the question, is the American dream pursuing happiness actually individuals pursuing their own selfish ends, thus, we end up with a society of some getting rich and many more getting poorer, and no real utopia achieved? The pursuit of happiness only makes sense if it means that we are free to make choices to pursue what we believe is important in life, and to have the means to do it. This is the story of a man who is able to get beyond a meager existence and use his talents to live a prosperous life. But it suggests that there are values that he considers important with which to live his life, making his pursuit more than material.

Monday, January 15, 2007

Overcoming Racism

Rick Joyner's prophetic ministry located in Charlotte, NC, includes this little booklet on the great hope and future for the black race. Here is an excerpt from the book:

"If the white race, or any other people, had suffered the same historic problems as the black race, we would be having the same problems they are having now. I have heard many white leaders actually say that we would have no inner city problems if blacks just had some ambition. What do you think slavery did to the work ethic? Such deep cultural wounds cannot be healed without the intervention of the cross.

The black race in America was allowed to be subject to slavery for the same reason that the Lord allowed Israel to become slaves in Egypt - they have a destiny with God. When they come into this destiny, the rest of America is going to be very thankful for this great and noble people in our midst. It is the destiny of the black race to carry freedom to a new level. This will be true freedom, with the dignity and honor that God created men to have.

THE POWER FOR HEALING

It was by the Lord's stripes that we were healed. In a sense we too, receive the authority for healing in the very place where we are wounded, once the wounds have been healed. Even when the wounds have been healed, there is sensitivity in that area that remains. Someone who has been subjected to abuse will be sensitive to others who have been abused. When someone who is subjected to abuse is truly healed, they will not only be truly free, but they will have the authority to carry healing to others with those same wounds.

The black race is going to embrace the cross, receive healing for their wounds, and start loving white Americans with such power that we will all be set free by that love.

The Uncle Tom of Uncle Tom's Cabin [you know how negatively black people have thought of this man] truly was a prophetic figure. In spite of all the abuse that he suffered at the hands of his "owners," he was freer than they were, and he was willing to use his freedom to lay down his life if that would result in his owner's salvation. The black believers in America, when they have been fully healed will bring revival and true spiritual liberty to the whole nation.

The inner cities of America will ultimately become the inner sanctuary of God's tabernacle; the place where his glory and presence dwells. The greatest move of God that America has ever experiences will come out of the inner cities. The suburban church may have the gold, but the inner church will make them jealous with the glory. Those who are wise will take the gold that they have and use it to build a tabernacle for the Lord that is not made with hands, but with people."

These are some powerful words by a white man.

God Is In Control? Part 2

It was pointed out in our Alpha course, that Jesus taught us to pray, "Thy Will Be Done" thus God's will isn't always being done, unless we get involved. If God's will already is done then we don't need to pray that prayer.

We think it should be so easy. Everything that comes is God's will sent to teach us something and all we have to do is accept things as from God and learn. So, that prayer means acceptance of God's will then. No. That prayer is asking God for his will to be done. It is a prayer asking God to move, to change things.

To ask for God's will to be done we first need to be sure that it is God's will that we want. We need to be sure that God is truly good.

There are those lovers of God who believe He is good who find themselves under attack. In my parents' church there is a pastor who had been on the mission field in Madagascar and came home because of a disease. I have been to their church numerous times lately and have seen this pastor again. I remembered there was something special about him from the old days when I also went to their church when I lived at home. My mother lent me a book he wrote and in it I read a chapter on deliverance for the Madagascar natives from the evil spirits that come from their ancient religious beliefs. He tells about how the people were delivered in the name of Jesus.

The people of my parents church are not pentecostal, or inclined towards acceptance of supernatural gifts. Nevertheless, faced with the need for confronting the supernatural occult powers of the ancient religion of the Africans, this dear pastor found the essentials that could overcome.

This dear pastor was attacked with a disease and had to leave the mission field.

In this same church I have a dear old friend from our teen years when we were in the youth group, who got cancer and the radiation damaged her heart. She had hands laid on her and the cancer went away, but the remaining damage to her heart is life threatening. She is the one person in the church who is a visionary. She has tried to hold a prayer meeting in her home because she wants to see growth in the church, but the church has been slow to respond. She has a sincere heart for God and her life is under attack.

My mother has a friend whose son is a missionary. She has other sons, but the son who is on the mission field is the one who is faced with a paralyzing illness.

I have a friend from church who prays for people and counsels them. She has a vision for restoring the limbs of war veterans and others who have lost body parts. She herself has diabetes and badly damaged legs and feet. She wears braces on her legs and is wheeled into hospitals where she goes to pray for the sick. She keeps believing for her own healing. She keeps getting attacked. She has had numerous attacks on her own body, and her husband and son both died on her recently. Her son was one of two sons who was most passionate about God and was also a provider for a wife and two daughters. He was just starting to see victory in his life over his problems in health and finances. She keeps believing, but she has an uphill battle. She is aware of her enemy, and does not accept the negative things that have come into her life as coming from God.

It is a staggering reality to recognize just how much of a price one pays to love God, to love the truth and to fight for it. In my own life, I cannot believe when I look back how tangible the enemy that has come against me in my quest for my own victories. But I have had to fight for good to prevail over evil. I have had to fight for God's will over Satan's will. That is why I don't think that God is automatically in control.

My friend from my parents' church (with heart damage) and I have talked about this. We talked about the passage in Hebrews that says the men of old died in faith never having seen things that they hoped for, and would only see in heaven. I said it is kind of like the founders of the United States who died with the vision of America. They didn't get to live it, but they could see it one day. Abraham and other founders could see the glorious things they were contributing to one day, though they could not participate in them. We can see the power and the miracles that God's people should one day experience. My friend from my church who is in braces is doing everything she can to help everyone she can see the power of God in their lives and to experience it herself, and to pay it forward for the future generations.

It is obvious that it is possible to experience more of God's miraculous power by being in a closer position with God. The faith healers whose ministries have produced great miracles prove that. We don't have everything God would have for us without a tremendous fight. We don't have God's will done on earth without a battle that involves our own will and determination fully engaged in it. Sadly, this is a revelation missing in the earth, and my little post on my little blog is an attempt to bring that revelation to someone.

In countries that are war-torn, where Christianity is threatened and Christians are forced into hiding or are threatened with death or torture, the battle is obvious. In the West, in America, the battle is very real but subtle. We are also under constant attack, but the attacks are things like depression, or lethargy and compromise - keeping the power of God locked up and keeping a relationship to God off in one compartment of life. If Satan can have it this way, he is appeased.

In this life we never have a true victory with ease. It will always come with a price. The will of God has to be fought for. This is how it has been for me. I discovered, yes, I do love God and want his best for my life and now, oh, I have to fight an enemy for it.

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Blogging With Cappuccino


This is how I blog. At a coffee shop with a cappuccino in hand. Just thought you'd like to know.

Monday, January 08, 2007

God Is In Control?

I was taking an Alpha course at an evangelical free church in Minneapolis, and there was a discussion. Most of the members insisted that God is in control of every aspect of their lives.

Excuse me, but if God is in control, then please explain the world to me. I don't believe God is in control unless we put him in control. And my problem is that I don't think I really have him in control of things. I long to truly see His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. I have seen too much of Satan's will being done, not only in my life but in the life of other, genuine believers.

The thing is that if you truly know God, there is nothing about him that you will not like. And because of that you will want nothing but his will to be done. He desires for you what you desire for yourself.

When I have been the most passionate in desire for God, then I have been under the worst attack and have had the worst things happen to me. I have so many examples of those who have been on the mission field and they have been afflicted with a disease and have had to return home and discontinue their service to God. I have a dear friend from my teen years who I have gotten in touch with again, finding out she is now a mature believer who is very in love with Jesus, just in time to find out she is supposed to die soon.

There was the great evangelist Smith Wigglesworth who saw great miracles: people raised from the dead, limbs restored, among others, and I had the privilege of knowing a Smith Wigglesworth of the late 20th century who died in his late 80s. He had amazing miracles in his ministry as well. Ministers such as these obviously have some special connection to God that enables them to have this power and these miracles, but it should not belong exclusively to a few people, but to all believers.

Yet, sadly, so many believers live under so much oppression and defeat. God is not in control in their lives. Christians labor under the idea that God has sent all these bad things to teach a lesson, so that they won't even begin to part with them based on knowing that a loving God has not placed these things upon them. They have a relationship with the devil, not God. They call God the devil.

When will we ever see an end to the works of the devil? Jesus said he came to destroy those works. We can't see an end to them if we accept them as from God.

Friday, January 05, 2007

Thursday, January 04, 2007

I'm Asking The One Question That Every Single Girl Dreams About...


are you male or female?


an Eden original greeting card

To My One True Love....


I hope you're in prison 'cause you haven't called in a really long time.



an Eden original greeting card

To The One Person I Consider To Be My Soul Mate!





Or didn't You Know?





an Eden original greeting card

Don't Be Sad Because It's Over....




be happy because the very strange man is out of your life!



an Eden original greeting card

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Milk as a Creamer



There are some blessings I do have to be thankful for in life such as this great friend that I've had for maybe 17 years now, named Dominick. We have never even held hands as it has been platonic for all this time. We have a running joke between us. We get together often for breakfast,as we both love breakfast food, and we both love to have coffee with milk as a creamer instead of cream. It's not the caloric content so much, it's just that milk tastes better. So, one of us will always ask the waitress for milk as a creamer and turn to the other and laugh, since we've been doing this for..ever.

Here is a scenario I thought of with Dominic in a cafe, based on an experience we had in one cafe where they wanted to charge for the milk(!):

He orders coffee, and tells waitress
“I want milk as a creamer.”
She says “Oh, yes, we have cream”
“No, I want milk instead of cream,”
“OK – you want a glass of milk?”
“No, I want milk to use as a creamer in coffee instead of cream”
“Ok, let me ask my boss how much for that.”
She comes back and says, "It will cost 30 cents for a small mini pitcher of milk(!)" (it may take 3 of those for all the coffee.)
Dominick says,“but cream is more expensive than milk!”
“Oh, so you want cream then?”
“No, you give the cream for free so the milk shouldn’t cost more!”
“Sir, we don’t serve milk as a creamer, it costs for the adjustment."
"Ok, bring me milk anyway then."
"Alright, milk then."
She brings the coffee, and next to it, a bowl of little containers of cream. When the bill comes, she has charged him an extra 30 cents for milk.

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

If a blogger dies, how would you know?

Doesn't it kind of freak you out when you think that if you died, none of your cyber friends would find out?

Your blog would suddenly freeze, abandoned, and none of your friends or family would be able to put a post on it saying, "this blogger is now with the Lord. May she rest in peace" or anything like that, because they don't have your password. And so far, no one I know knows anyone that I know on the internet. Kinda crazy.

I have noticed several bloggers who disappeared back in April, or August, or...

and so it just occurs to me.

If I should die before I post another one, at least this blog has, in part, recorded a lot of what I have wanted to say, or to present of what has made up my life. And it will live on beyond me, and that is very cool.

And if I disappear, God forbid, I just want to say, "see you in the great beyond."