Government video....both fun and sad.

Thank you to everyone that sent get well wishes.  Yes, I've had another little complication and set back.  Hopefully I'm on the mend again.

A friend sent the following in an e-mail and I couldn't help but smile.  Hope you enjoy this as much as I did.



God loves you,

Debbie

Are you training leaders or stupid followers?

Being a follower isn't necessarily bad if you are following a person who truly knows the right thing to do.  The problem with many of the masses today is that they can't tell the difference between a good leader and a bad leader. 

If you want your children to survive in school, in business, in marriage, in politics, in faith and in their adult lives in general....you must teach them to be leaders, respectful followers and decisive mature adults who can tell the difference between good and bad.  If you don't give your children these vital traits, you not only doom them to failure but you also doom our society to failure.  If they don't have the ability to recognize right from wrong, they can be led astray by any huckster that comes along.

Remember....there's no way around the fact that each and every parent in America will play a role in the future of this country.  You can't hide and you can't give your responsibility to anyone else.  If you have a child you will determine how your child changes America. 

How?  Even if you choose a nanny - you will have determined how that child is raised.  If you choose permissive non-responsive parenting - you will determine the outcome of your child's life.  If you listen to the wrong parenting advice and in the end it doesn't work....the decision for how your child was raised is directly related to your decision. 

If you raise a spoil brat, he/she will continue that tradition and through his future generations will infect the community they live in.  They will infect that community with dysfunctional families that are unable to contribute positively to the community because they are totally consumed by their dysfunctional behavior.  Think of all the worry, pain, sorrow and time that is wasted on divorce, teen pregnancy, crime, delinquency, drugs, alcohol and a host of bad behaviors. 

It takes time and positive energy to create and move forward.  If you lazily continue on a path to destruction - you rob this country and your community of people who can accomplish great things.

"NO...NO....You can't put that on my shoulders.  It's my child's fault that he didn't turn out right!  I loved him and gave him everything, how he turns out is not my fault!"

Sorry kiddo.  If you don't search for a parenting plan that works.....your child won't turn out right and yes....that's your job! 

Now...having said that, There's no perfect parent and there's no perfect child.  BUT....it is our responsibility to raise good children who can take their place in society and be strong leaders who know right from wrong.

Here's the good news.....as long as there isn't a physical or medical problem....I have NEVER met a child that didn't want to do the right thing and get praised for his action.  What I have met are a lot of confused children who don't know what "the right thing" is!  That's where the rub comes in.  You - the parent - must know "the right thing" so you can pass that nugget of information on to your children. 

Don't know what that is????  Keep listening and learning.  Read a parenting book.  Have a speaker come to your church or organization.  I would love to come.  OR...Check out my Mommy Detective Blog

If you are like me you'll make some mistakes but you'll keep working on it and when your children are older you'll be able to stand on the biblical principle..."Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it."

God loves you,

Debbie

Real Courage

I love the military, policemen, firemen and anyone that says...."Don't you worry about a thing; I'm here to protect you." 

When the National Anthem is played I don't worry about political correctness.  I snap my hand to my heart, I sing with pride and I wish that I could hug everyone that serves this great land.  When I'm in the store or a mall or an airport....I have no problem running to a soldier and grabbing his or her hand and saying as loudly as I can, "Thank you sir.  Thank you for your service." 

Without these brave men and women we would be speaking German or would be facing even more difficult times around the world.  God bless them all.

When I received the following in an e-mail, I boiled inside.  I haven't watched the major channels - ABC, NBC, or CBS for over 5 years.  My television viewing consists of Fox news and any cable channel that shows a decent movie or show.  I don't care about Michael Jackson or who is dating some overly inflated movie star who doesn't have the brains of a mouse.  I don't care about who's dancing with whom or how the liberals want to spin the news.  I love stories like the following because it stirs within us the meaning of character, integrity, courage and strength.  This country needs more heroes and less rappers.  We need more value driven men and less sex driven movies. 

I hope you will say a prayer for this family and while you are at it....thank God for the soldiers that keep you safe.

Courage

You're a 19 year old kid. You're critically wounded and dying in the jungle somewhere in the Central Highlands of Viet Nam.  It's November 11, 1967.   LZ (landing zone) X-ray.  Your unit is outnumbered 8-1 and the enemy fire is so intense, from 100 yards away, that your CO (commanding officer) has ordered the MedEvac helicopters to stop coming in.

You're lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns and you know you're not getting out. Your family is half way around the world, 12,000 miles away, and you'll never see them again.

As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the day. Then - over the machine gun noise - you faintly hear that sound of a helicopter.

You look up to see a Huey coming in. But ... It doesn't seem real because no MedEvac markings are on it.  Captain Ed Freeman is coming in for you.   He's not MedEvac so it's not his job, but he heard the radio call and decided he's flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire anyway.

Even after the MedEvacs were ordered not to come. He's coming anyway.  And he drops it in and sits there in the machine gun fire, as they load 3 of you at a time on board.  Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire to the doctors and nurses and safety.

And, he kept coming back!! 13 more times!!  Until all the wounded were out. No one knew until the mission was over that the Captain had been hit 4 times in the legs and left arm.  He took 29 of you and your buddies out that day. Some would not have made it without the Captain and his Huey.

Medal of Honor Recipient, Captain Ed Freeman, United States Air Force, died last Wednesday at the age of 70, in Boise, Idaho.   May God Bless and Rest His Soul.

Medal of Honor Winner Captain Ed Freeman

I bet you didn't hear about this hero's passing, but we've sure seen a whole bunch about Michael
Jackson and Tiger Woods.

Even sillier is a You Tube video of Rhonda Locklear almost in tears before the FCC's Digital Inclusion Summit....upset because her two children have to deal with slow internet and can't afford the faster connections. Rhonda Locklear  How childish and stupid have America's parents become. We worry about children and their access to the internet and yet we let good men die without so much as a salute of honor.

I think it's time we tell spoiled brats to deal with it and see what we can do to raise men and women who have "real courage"!

Shame on the American media !!!

God Loves You,

Debbie

Conservative vs. Liberal

It seems as though liberals have a hard time understanding conservatives.  I like to point to the constitution and a saying I learned as a child.  In elementary school I learned that American freedom was based on one saying...."Your freedom stops where mine begins!"

My husband sent me an e-mail that goes further to explain a conservative viewpoint and why we feel liberals will take away our freedom.

If you ever wondered what side of the fence you sit on, this is a great test!

If a conservative doesn't like guns, he doesn't buy one.

If a liberal doesn't like guns, he wants all guns outlawed.

If a conservative is a vegetarian, he doesn't eat meat.

If a liberal is a vegetarian, he wants all meat products banned for everyone.

If a conservative is homosexual, he quietly leads his life.

If a liberal is homosexual, he demands legislated respect.


If a conservative is down-and-out, he thinks about how to better his situation.


A liberal wonders who is going to take care of him.


If a conservative doesn't like a talk show host, he switches channels.


Liberals demand that those they don't like be shut down.


If a conservative is a non-believer, he doesn't go to church.


A liberal non-believer wants any mention of God and religion silenced.


(Unless it's a foreign religion, of course!)


If a conservative decides he needs health care, he goes about shopping for it, or may choose a job that provides it.


A liberal demands that the rest of us pay for his.


If a conservative reads this, he'll forward it so his friends can have a good laugh.


A liberal will delete it because he's "offended".


Hum.....maybe this is too true to be funny.

God loves you,

Debbie

Finally....the cast is off!

Most of you know that I had reconstructive surgery on my foot.  There were several complications.  It's been extremely difficult for me to continue writing.  However....yeah!  Yesterday the doctor took the cast off.  Now if my foot swells, perhaps the pain won't escalate as well and I can continue to write.  I am not cleared to walk yet....but I'm getting better.

Today has presented something new.  The doctor said I could wash my leg.  How wonderful it felt to let cool cleansing water rush over my leg and foot.  I dried it, moved to my chair and propped it on a pillow.  As the day wore on, little pieces of skin began floating around.  Every time I moved my leg....I'd leave little bits of skin behind.

I'm molting!  How disgusting.  Ron and I tried another little wash to release more, but it only made it worse.  As the hot evening sun poured in my window, I said a little prayer and then wondered if I should send out a prayer for my molting leg.  Instead I smiled thinking, "Isn't this like our relationship with God?"

We come to Him broken and unable to function properly.  He wraps his loving arms around us (the cast) and begins to show us how to heal.  Some people resist the confinements of the cast.  They push away and continue to hobble down the road with dysfunctional limbs.  Some people allow him to heal the bones and they seem content for a while - determined to stay the course and see this through.  But, when God removes the cast and announces that the broken limb is healed, He asks for one more thing. 

"You must remove the dead parts of your life that still remain."  This is where He offers living water to wash away the "junk" that has accumulated in your life.  It's here that some who were on board with the cast suddenly refuse to go on.  "What do you mean I have to rid my life of impurities?  I have to give up cursing, forever?  Why do I have to give up friends with bad habits?"  These people turn with their heavy hearts and walk away.  As they move into the distance they leave dead skin and impurities where ever they go.

Some people allow the living water to wash "all" their sins away - and keep them away.  Others allow the water to wash most of it away.  Like the stubborn molting dead skin that continues to cling to my leg, it will take some rubbing to release those sins completely.  Then there's the section of dead skin that goes deep.  Most of the outside edges choose to lay loose on the top of tender new skin - until something rubs against it and with a loud "ouch" you realize it's still deeply connected.  You can cut away most of the loose skin, but there will be that little portion that catches on your clothes and reminds you that you aren't complete free of the pain.

How wonderful when we soak that section or coat it with cream and it finally releases.  Under it is nice new pink skin.  Skin that doesn't hurt.  Skin that's ready for a new day.  Skin that makes us proud. 

Isn't that just like God?  Waiting for us to shed the remains of a sinful life and live new and free in him?  Maybe our new prayer should be for God to help us "molt" our sins away.

Okay....not the best saying, but I'm still in recovery.

God loves you,

Debbie

Happy Easter

What does Easter mean to you?

 Stuck in my bedroom recovering from surgery, my Easter is void of all the things I normally do.  I won't be shopping for an Easter dress.  I won't be planning a big meal.  I won't see children dressed in cute spring outfits (although sadly most people don't do that anymore).  I won't see an Easter play or hear an Easter Cantata (again sadly...many churches have dropped those).  So....what does Easter really mean?

I could give you a pat answer and point to the Resurrection story and to movies like The Passion of the Christ.  I could quote scripture or recite things I've learned over the years. 

Maybe what I'm really asking is what does it mean to my daily life....how does this once a year observance change me?  Considering those questions took me more than a few moments.  I think I finally have an answer for you.

I believe it's possible for someone to say, "Yeah, sure...I believe in God."  "Oh sure....I think Jesus was born and lived a good life."  "Of course I'm a Christian....or a Catholic....or a Presbyterian...." 

It's amazing though, how quiet people get when faced with the Crucifixion and Resurrection.  They may float with you when it comes to the Crucifixion, because after all....many people were crucified in that day.  But the Resurrection....hum....That's when they get nervous, shuffle their feet and nervously clear their throat. 

Yet....for the dedicated Christian none of the events of Jesus life, none of the miracles are as important as the Resurrection.  Without the Resurrection there is no hope.  Our lives may be easier if we live by the Ten Commandments simply because we will avoid the complications caused by breaking those rules. Our relationships may be stronger because we are kind and forgiving.  But the future would still be hopeless, frightening and our life here on earth would be without purpose.  Without the Resurrection doubt would move in and our faith would be a constant struggle.

The Easter Resurrection is where the Christian faith gets its validity.  Without the Resurrection Jesus is just a good man with a great message.  But with the Resurrection he provides clear proof of the theme of his message....."Believe in me and you shall have everlasting life!"  It's like desert that's good for you.  You get His love and a sweet life followed by an eternity of more of the same. 

Wow!  It just doesn't get better than that!

Happy Easter,

God loves you,

Debbie

A different Good Friday Prayer

My Uncle sent me the following information. It’s Good Friday and I had planned an uplifting post about our blessed Savior and all He’s done for us. But when I read this, I thought of all the Christians living in America and how much our Freedom of Religion has meant to all of us. Just like Christians on the first Easter after Pearl Harbor spent their holiday praying for this  country….I believe it is just as important that we pray for our nation today!

It’s a long hard battle to turn this country back to God. It’s always harder to regain ground that’s lost than it is to take it for the first time. Please join me in prayer asking that God will show us how to get back to the faith and freedom of our founding fathers. I hope you will join me today to thank God for his tender mercies and his death on the cross – and to also ask Him to guide and direct us as we promote His love for this “Christian” nation!

This is chilling

In 1952 President Truman established one day a year as a "National Day of Prayer."

In 1988, President Reagan designated the first Thursday in May of each year as the National Day of Prayer.

In June 2007, (then) Presidential candidate Barack Obama declared that the USA was no longer a Christian nation.

This year President Obama, canceled the 21st annual National Day of Prayer ceremony at the White House under the rouse of "not wanting to offend anyone".

On September 25, 2009 from 4 am until 7 pm, a National Day of Prayer for the Muslim religion was held on Capitol Hill, beside the White House. There were over 50,000 Muslims that day in DC.

I guess it doesn't matter if "Christians" are offended by this event - we obviously don't count as "anyone" anymore.

Just yesterday on April 1st, 2010 Mr. Obama announced that his family would not join a Washington church because it was too much of a security risk and would disrupt the services. Hum…like no other president has ever had that problem.

The direction this country is headed should strike fear in the heart of every Christian. Especially knowing that the Muslim religion believes that if Christians cannot be converted they should be annihilated.

This is not a rumor - Go to the website to confirm this info:
( http://www.islamoncapitolhill.com/ )   You can also find video about the day on YouTube under Islam on capitol hill 9-25-09.

Pay particular attention to the very bottom of the Islam website page: "OUR TIME HAS COME"

I hope that this information will stir your spirit and send you to your knees.

The words of 2 Chronicles 7:14

"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 sin and will heal their land."

We must pray for our nation, our communities, our families, and especially our children. They are the ones that are going to suffer the most if we don't PRAY! May God have mercy...IN GOD WE TRUST.

 
Thank you Uncle Don.  I hope everyone will join us in prayer.
 
God loves you,
 

Debbie