Random

You Are The Stuffing

You’re complicated and complex, yet all your pieces fit together. People miss you if you’re gone – but they’re not sure why.

What Part of Thanksgiving Are You?

Over The Mountain And Through The Woods

My younger sister and I went in the woods yesterday for the first time since last spring or winter. We stop when the weather gets warm and go again after it freezes to kill the tics and send the snakes into hiding. We dressed in elf/ranger/whatever-you-want-to-call-it garb and took a bunch of pictures.

We had the following conversation:

Sister: *something about two dogs in the neighborhood that eat elves* “We’re not elves, though. We’re humans disguised as elves.”

Me: “Not exactly. We don’t look that elvish.”

Sister: “We’re humans disguised as humans.”

Makes tons of sense.

Mom, Laura and I went to a mountain today and walked for around an hour. I enjoyed it.

I’m rather tired now, so if I start rambling, or fail to make sense, that’s why.

We bought boiled peanuts on the way home. Yum.

I need to get ready for bed now.

Have an amazing rest of your life!

- WM

Oops

I just realized both links went to Plugged In’s review of Twilight. Here’s Brio’s:
Click

Twilight and More Shopping

I mentioned in my last post that the Twilight series is evil and yucky (though not exactly in those words). Here are a couple of articles to back that statement up, in case you want to find out more.

Brio’s review

Plugged In’s review

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We went out again today. While my younger sister was in art class, Mom and I went to the post office, Avon store (for hand cream and lip balm), and the library. I checked out a couple of DVDs and a book. One DVD is a History Channel program on the crusaders and one is a documentary on Ireland that looks interesting. I haven’t watched either yet. I noticed a book by Jack Cavinaugh. The author’s name sounded familiar, so I pulled it out and read the back. It also looks interesting, so I checked it out despite the fact that I have too many books to read at home to begin with.

We went clothes shopping afterward, but I didn’t find anything. I’ve thought about making some more medieval/Renaissance/fantasy clothes and wearing them all the time.

Have an amazing rest of your life!

- WM

This and That

My younger sister celebrated her birthday on Sunday. She was born on December 24, so she celebrates it early (I doubt any of her friends could come over on Christmas Eve ). I hid in my room and watched Hidalgo on my laptop.

I went shopping with my mother and sisters yesterday. I actually got something fashionable. The world must be coming to an end. It’s not that I try to be unfashionable, I just rarely find anything that is modest and I like, so I usually wear adult-small t-shirts from places like Colorado, Clean Place, and the Ren. Faire (seven months! *waits*).

I want a Great Dane, next dog I get. My younger sister wants a Chihuahua.

She and I and are exactly like in some areas (and simultaneously think the same things at times), and miles apart in others. For example, I was amused last night when she was all excited that she would get to buy a cute hat she’d wanted and commented, “Wow. You’re acting like I would if I got a new sword or something.”

For the record, the Twilight books by Stephanie Myers are trash, so don’t read them or see the movie. I’ve read enough of and about them to know this. Don’t post on my blog defending them.

I hope I can get some leather gloves and an archery target before long. The bow string wore a hole in my other gloves, and cardboard boxes full of straw don’t last very long.

Pendragon: Sword of His Father is an indie film made by a Christian family. It will be available for purchase on DVD from their website this month. Support their efforts to provide wholesome entertainment and purchase a copy if you like. Click here to go to the website.

Ever had a fruit crepe at IHOP? Click here for a recipe. I’ve made them twice. I used whole wheat flour (which worked great), left out the lemon juice and rind, and used blueberry and cherry pie filling for the fruit. I cook the crepes until they’re crispy. My family likes them better than the ones at IHOP (and they’re very easy to make, so it’s not my cooking, it’s the recipe).

Have an amazing rest of your life!
- WM

Pandas and Princes

On the panda note, we watched Kung Fu Panda on Friday. It was cute. Good for a few laughs. I’m not going to write a review. You can read the one on pluggedinonline.com if you like.

On the princes note, I laughed more in the two minutes and forty-eight seconds of this Prince Caspian spoof than in the entire panda movie.

Have an amazing rest of your life!

- WM

Meh

It’s a little since this article was written before the election, but I’m posting it anyway. I’m copy & pasting it from someone’s note on Facebook.

Keep praying for America.

——————–

Mbijiwe Mwenda says we are being naive to ignore Barack Obama’s ties to a dangerous Kenyan politician.

Mbijiwe Mwenda is a voice crying in the wilderness—from the other side of the world.

The Kenyan pastor, founder of Glory Cathedral Church in Nairobi, does not have a voice on CNN or Fox News. But he has been warning Christians during a recent visit to the United States that more is at stake in the 2008 election than anyone supposed.

“Many Americans do not seem to realize the price that has been paid for your freedom,” Mwenda says. “I am afraid we are about to lose the America we have known in the past—the America that has been a hope for the world.”

Mwenda’s main concern: That Democratic presidential challenger Barack Obama has a cozy relationship with Raila Odinga, an avowed Marxist politician who now serves as Kenya’s prime minister. Obama, who made taxpayer-funded visits to Kenya in 2004, 2005 and 2006, campaigned for Odinga in 2006.

During public appearances in Kenya, Odinga introduced Obama as his cousin. But later a family member denied that claim, saying that Odinga and Obama’s father, Barack Obama Sr., simply came from the same village. Both Obama Sr. and Odinga are from the Luo tribe, Kenya’s third largest.

When Odinga ran for president of Kenya last year and lost by a slim margin, tribal violence erupted amid claims of voter fraud. About 150,000 people died (many were killed in machete attacks), hundreds of churches were burned and 600,000 villagers were displaced. The international community had to broker a peace deal, allowing Odinga to serve as prime minister while his opponent, Mwai Kibaki, was named president.

Today, Odinga hopes that Obama will win the White House on Nov. 4 to boost support for his bid to become president of Kenya in 2012.

Pastor Mwenda says he is amazed that Americans don’t seem concerned that Obama is tied to Odinga. He rattled off a list of facts that Charisma has verified:

· Odinga was trained in communist ideology in Europe and holds Marxist views. “He even named his son Fidel Castro,” Mwenda says.
· He has obvious ties to Muslim interests and even received funding for his presidential campaign from Libya. Although he officially claims to be an Anglican, Mwenda says, “[Odinga] has been very sympathetic to Muslims and some say he is a Muslim secretly.”
· Odinga fits in nicely with Arab leaders’ plans for Africa. When they convened in Nigeria in 2001, they released a statement indicating that Kenya is to play a key role in spreading Islam throughout southern Africa. Says Mwenda: “Odinga is a dangerous man. A dictator.”
· Odinga has promised to enact Sharia law in “Muslim declared regions” of Kenya—meaning that pork would be outlawed, women could not drive and crimes would be punished according to Islamic tradition.

So why did Obama campaign for Odinga? Independent journalists around the world have been asking that question since 2006. Paula Abeles of African Press International wrote in August: “Clearly Obama campaigned for someone who is corrupt, ruthless and has financial ties to terrorists. … Senator Obama’s actions—intentional or not—were in direct conflict with the efforts and interests of U.S. national security.”

Many Kenyans are proud that a son of Kenya has a shot at the White House. But Kenya’s evangelical Christians are less enthusiastic. Like Mwenda, many of them are also troubled that Obama’s paternal grandmother has publicly stated that she sacrifices chickens and pours libations daily when praying for Obama to win the election. “She has been doing this since the [Democratic] primaries,” Mwenda says.

“Something is about to go wrong in your country,” Mwenda warned me.

I know many people who read my column will assume I am only writing it to boost John McCain’s chances at the polls next week. Some of my critics have also assumed that I must have racist tendencies if I am not voting for Barack Obama.

They can assume what they want, but the truth is that I have made eight trips to Africa in the last seven years and it is my second home. I will return there in early 2009. If my situation allowed it I would move there permanently—I love the people, the culture and what the Holy Spirit is doing all over that beautiful continent.

This week I did my own informal poll of African church leaders in Nigeria and Kenya. What I found was that none of them support Obama. Like many American Christians, they are staunchly pro-life, they defend traditional marriage and they certainly do not support politicians who don’t take the threat of militant Islam seriously.

They have seen enough torched churches and amputated arms to know better. They have seen Christian children thrown into the bottom of wells to die. They have seen Shariah law cast a dark pall over whole regions. They have watched as Middle Eastern governments pour millions of dollars into their local economies to build mosques and infrastructure and to buy votes.

I asked Pastor Mwenda how American Christians should pray in light of this sobering information. He told me: “I am praying that Obama does not win the White House. It is never too late for God. We can turn the tide. We need to pray: ‘Our Father, Who art in heaven, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’ We must not allow anything in this nation that is not in His will.”

J. Lee Grady is editor of Charisma. Many people responded to his column last week, and to the column by Kimberly Daniels that he attached to his message. Daniels wrote a response to all who replied to her message.

For more information about the Rev. Mbijiwe Mwenda, go to rgmikenya.org. His new book America, Fear No Evil (Xulon) is available from online stores.

Source: Charisma Online

Charisma Online is a service of Charisma magazine and Strang Communications.

Self

Our country is saturated with it. “You need to do this for yourself!” “Take time for you!” “Rely on yourself!” “Think about you!”

There is an element of truth in it – we do need to take care of ourselves. Our bodies are God’s temple. But this is what God says about selfishness.

2 Timothy 3:
1But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.

Romans 15:

1We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. 2Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. 3For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.” 4For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Philippians 2:

3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.  5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing,  taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

2 Corinthians 5:

15And he [Christ] died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

1 Corinthians 10:

24Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.

John 12:

25The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

And I’ll just post this whole chapter (emphasis on verse 5 mine).

1 Corinthians 13:

1If I speak in the tongues^[a] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Have an amazing rest of your life!

- WM

P. S. I’ve been listening to Michael Card’s CD “Starkindler” lately. It’s very good. If you like meaningful Celtic music, I recommend it.

Camera, Boots, and Bug

I got a new digital camera this week. It’s a Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ8K. I did a bunch of research online to find an affordable camera with all of the features I wanted, and found this one. My parents are paying for part of it for Christmas, and my brother for my birthday, and I’m paying for the rest (which isn’t much, after that). I went to Wally World and got a camera case for it today, and yesterday I ordered a memory card (4 GB for $20, the best price I found. It’s here if you’re interested. $20 is the current sale price.)

I also found the most ranger-looking boots at an affordable price I’ve ever seen when I went to Wal-Mart today. They only cost $12.

I need to wear them around in the woods for a while so they’re not so shiny…

Speaking of the woods, the tree leaves are gold, cranberry, orange, and the like, so I went to the park and took some nature pictures.

This bug flew onto my pant leg, then to the ground.

Have an amazing rest of your life!
- WM