Classic Spousal Emasculation?

Could it be that Joanna’s husband, Mark, is actually a blithering idiot?  After all, why else would an experienced television news reporter feel compelled to tell him to not scare people by talking too loudly about those explosions being a bomb, and then repeat what she had told him during her televised report, when she should realize that the way a story is presented goes a long way toward how it is received by the viewing audience?

In all fairness, it could be argued that she was just giving an honest report about what happened while her mind was still numb from pounding the pavement for 26.2 miles, but she neglected to make that clear—did she not?  Of course, it may very well be that he was going against the training he had received as a police officer, as well as in the military, by shouting out that what was heard was a bomb, which would have been a rather idiotic thing to do, considering the situation at hand.

In any event, she succeeded in emasculating him before a fairly large viewing audience.  Whether or not he deserved it (naturally-speaking, of course) remains to be seen.

P.S.

It was pointed out to me that I neglected to address intent.  Therefore, please accept my sincere apologies, and let it be widely known and well understood that I hope the lovely and talented Ms. Small did not intend to humiliate her husband.

I also neglected to mention that it most certainly works both ways.  A good example of a husband humiliating his wife in a public setting would be him volunteering to announce upon their arrival at a community potluck dinner that she did not have much time to spend in the kitchen because of the kids being sick, which would be (in effect) to assume that the dish she prepared would not be received very well.

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ESPN Additions

Ironically, some of the best television commercials are for ESPN and only air on ESPN.  Now, I do not know if these ads really are meant to add all the more to the viewing experience, but it works for me.

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Camping Out Some More

Link: [Steve Camp]

Do You Feel Their Pain

Steve Camp

Have we failed again

Talking about the love of God

But judging those who need it most

All these afflicted ones

I feel their lives just fade away

Left to face the end alone

So we say a prayer

For their needs

Afraid to touch

To hurt

To bleed

Do you feel their pain

Has it touched your life

Can you taste the salt

In the tears they cry

Will you love them more

Than the hate that’s been

Will you love them back

To life again

We should feel ashamed

Allowing fear to close our minds

These are lives we can’t ignore

Oh don’t turn away

Will you see Jesus in each of them

These are souls He suffered for

There is hope for them

Open up your heart

There is grace for them

Do you think we’ve gone too far

Do you feel their pain

Has it touched your life

Can you taste the salt

In the tears they cry

Will you love them more

Than the hate that’s been

Will you love them back

To life again

Oh empty eyes

And lonely souls

Starving for love

And crying for hope

And Jesus said

Bring them unto Me

I will make them whole

I can set them free

Will you care for them

Or let them go alone

Will you lend a hand

Or will you cast the stone

Do you feel their pain

Has it touched your life

Can you taste the salt

In the tears they cry

Will you love them more

Than the hate that’s been

Will you love them back

To life again

Do you feel their pain

Has it touched your life

Can you taste the salt

In the tears they cry

Will you love them more

Than the hate that’s been

Will you love them back

To life again

Do you feel their pain

Has it touched your life

Can you taste the salt

In the tears they cry

Will you love them more

Than the hate that’s been

Will you love them back

To life again

Do you feel their pain

Has it touched your life

Can you taste the salt

In the tears they cry

Will you love them more

Than the hate that’s been

Will you love them back

To life again

Do you feel their pain

Has it touched your life

Can you taste the salt

In the tears they cry

Will you love them more

Than the hate that’s been

Will you love them back

To life again

Lyrics From: [elyrics.net]

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The Poor Will Always Be With Us

NOTE: This is a continuation of what was started with [The Other Lazarus].  Oh, and it would do you well to also consider what was given through Sateigdra Knowles in [Death Through Decadence: The Universal Problem of Class].

While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table. When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.” Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.” [Matthew 26:6-13 NIV]

Alas, the absolute truth of the matter truly is that far too many in the Christian community use what Christ Jesus said to His disciples about the poor always being with us to justify spending resources on everything but trying to help those who find themselves in need.  Be assured that they do this to their detriment.  For it is also written: There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land. [Deuteronomy 15:11 NIV]

Just in case there is some confusion over just what being openhanded means: If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them. Rather, be openhanded and freely lend them whatever they need. Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought: “The seventh year, the year for canceling debts, is near,” so that you do not show ill will toward the needy among your fellow Israelites and give them nothing. They may then appeal to the Lord against you, and you will be found guilty of sin. Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land. [Deuteronomy 15:7-11 NIV]

Ah, but are we not now commanded to take it even farther?  For it is written: “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.” [John 15:9-17 NIV]

No, He was not referring to “Christian love,” which is far too often detached and indifferent at best.  For the kind of love that is truly of our Heavenly Father is the same as the kind that good parents should have for their own children—only in a much purer form, and anyone who truly knows Him would know this.  For it is written: Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us. If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also. [1 John 4:7-21 NAS]

Simply put, all who are truly in Christ should want to love everyone as they should want to love the members of their own immediate family.  For who in their [right-mind] can truly justify spending thousands of dollars on expanding the kitchen and pantry in their own home while one of their loved ones does not have enough to eat, nor adequate shelter from the elements?

Getting back to Christ Jesus being anointed with that expensive perfume, be assured that this was an isolated incident, and there are times when it is in accordance to our Heavenly Father’s will for us to spend resources He has given on constructing grand church buildings and other things.  As with everything else, the key to truly understanding when lies in getting to truly know Him.  For those who can truly hear His voice do not have to guess at which way He would have them go.

Of course, Satan and his horde of rogue angels are quite good at sounding just like our Heavenly Father, and you think all who are truly in Christ are keep completely safe from the wiles of the devil and his demons, the Apostle Peter would have a thing or two to tell you.  For it is written: When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray. When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs? We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified. But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker. “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” [Galatians 2:11-21 NIV]

Therefore, let us not take anything too much for granted.  For even a desire to truly care for the poor and the needy is of the devil and his demons when it is done out of a sense of duty—be assured.

There is a way that seems right to a man and appears straight before him, but at the end of it is the way of death.

[Proverbs 16:25 AMP]

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Camping Out

Link: [Steve Camp]

Don’t Tell Them Jesus Loves Them

Steve Camp

Oh

Suffering soul

Crying out for love

In a world that seldom cares

See

The hungry heart

Longing to be filled

Much more than our prayers

And a young girl sells herself

On Seventh Avenue

And you hear her crying out for help

My God

What will we do

Don't tell them Jesus loves them

‘Til you're ready to love them too

‘Til your heart breaks from the sorrow

And the pain they're going through

With a life full of compassion

May we do what we must do

Don't tell them Jesus loves them

‘Til you're ready

To love them too

Oh

The desperate man

Are we reaching for the souls

That are sinking down in sin

Oh

Cry for the child

We've lost our passion for the lost

And there are billions left to win

And another forty thousand children

Starve to death today

Would we risk all we have

To see what of them say

Don't tell them Jesus loves them

‘Til you're ready to love them too

‘Til your heart breaks from the sorrow

And the pain they're going through

With a life full of compassion

May we do what we must do

Don't tell them Jesus loves them

‘Til you're ready

To love them too

Why have we waited so long

To show them Jesus lives

To share salvation's song

Why have our hearts become so proud

That we fail to see

To love them

Is to love God

And a young girl sells herself

On Seventh Avenue

Hear her crying out for help

What will we do

Don't tell them Jesus loves them

‘Til you're ready to love them too

‘Til your heart breaks from the sorrow

And the pain they're going through

With a life full of compassion

May we do what we must do

Don't tell them Jesus loves them

‘Til you're ready

To love them too

Lyrics From: [Repentance IS Necessary]

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Simply Put (Again)

Simply put, we (as in all of mankind) were created to be our Heavenly Father’s children by faith in order to give Himself opportunities to receive love that is freely given from us all.  For this is something that He values more than even what we naturally consider to be life itself.

No, this is not to say that we were created to fulfill a need.  For our Heavenly Father has always been, and forever will be, absolutely complete in Himself.

Nonetheless, be assured that this is to say that our Heavenly Father has always wanted as many as will but want to truly accept Him as being their own Heavenly Father (which most certainly includes truly accepting His only begotten Son, who is the Lord Jesus Christ, as being their own personal Savior) to spend all of eternity with Him in His Kingdom of Heaven as an heir to all that is His in glory.  For there is no other reason for our existence, but of what value is any of this unto those who do not want to believe it?

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Save the PCs

First of all, I would like to admit that I probably don’t know what I am talking about, but that has never stopped me before.  Therefore, I will endeavor to persevere in spite of my ignorance again.

Anyway, what this is about is all of the talk I have been hearing about the advent of tablets and smartphones that sounds like a death knell for personal computing.  For it is being strongly suggested that almost everything will be done through [cloud computing] in the very near future.

Yeah, I may be knee-jerking over a bunch of knee-jerking by stock market analysts again, but I am getting a really bad feeling about this.  For big-shot corporate types pay more attention to their bottom-lines than anything else, and with PC sales [plummeting] in the face of rising tablet and smartphone sales, PC makers may decide to spend most of their resources on developing slicker ways of accessing the cloud.

If you are not familiar with what cloud computing is yet, it is basically about using a device to access server-based programs over the internet.  Have you ever heard of apps for your smartphone?  Well, many of them are actually access links to those server-based programs.

Yes, the absolute truth of the matter truly is that most have no need for all that an actual personal computer has to offer.  For they just want to go online to see the sites and occasionally do some image editing, which can be accomplished through one of those server-based programs.

Furthermore, bloggers have been already using server-based programs for years.  For this is what the Blogger, WordPress and all of the other blogging platforms are.

Oh, but what about those who want to keep a copy of their work?  Tablets and smartphones do not have a hard drive!

On the other hand, storage of personal projects is readily available online for free, but just how long is that going to last?  Oh, and what about when there is a glitch in the system?  Do you really want to leave the continued existence of your 100-page presentation in the hands of someone floating around on a cloud?  Now, I don’t know about you, but most of my experience with the customer service provided by the likes of a Google has been somewhat lacking in satisfaction.

No, I am not expecting anything drastic anytime soon, but the writing is on the [wall].  Therefore, it might do you well to buy that big and powerful PC you have been dreaming of much sooner than later.  For corporate types have a habit of pricing things that they do not make much of much higher than they have to in order to justify continuing to make them.  Sigh.

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ESPN Additions

Ironically, some of the best television commercials are for ESPN and only air on ESPN.  Now, I do not know if these ads really are meant to add all the more to the viewing experience, but it works for me.

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The Other Lazarus

***WARNING***

The following is not meant for so-called babes in Christ, nor those weak in faith.  Nonetheless, be assured that our Heavenly Father will come to the rescue of all who will accept His help with their struggles against doubts and fears.

NOTE: I really messed this up before.  Hopefully, it will flow much easier now.

Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.)  So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.” When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.” “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?” Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.” After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.” His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there. When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied. Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. “Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

[John 11:1-44 NIV]

The Lazarus Christ Jesus raised from the dead is the one foremost in the minds of most in the Christian community, and there is certainly nothing wrong with that.  There is, however, another Lazarus we would do well to not ignore.

“Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day. And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man’s table; besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.’ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father’s house—for I have five brothers—in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’  But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’” [Luke 16:19-31 NAS]

Yes, many a sermon has been preached about how the materially rich man found himself in Hell after his time as a part of this world came to an end while the materially poor Lazarus went straight to Heaven, and there is a good reason for this.  For there is no denying what Christ Jesus said about it being easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a materially rich person to enter into His Kingdom of Heaven [Matthew 19:16-24], but it should be noted that Abraham was the richest person (both in regards to material wealth and having a very close and personal relationship with our Heavenly Father) in this entire world at the time of his physical death, and that he received even more when he entered into our Heavenly Father’s Kingdom of Heaven to spend all of eternity with Him as a full and equal heir to all that is His in glory.

Be assured that I have been given more to say about that, but what I am supposed to be focusing upon at this time is the rest of the materially poor Lazarus’ story.  For he died an apparently horrible physical death from starvation and over-exposure to the elements.

Now, if you are not familiar with my story, be assured that this message is not being given through someone in a place of relative comfort and security in the eyes of this world.  In fact, the best way to describe my life in this world for the last 20 years or so is that it has been torturous.

No, I am not afraid of dying—neither physically, nor Spiritually.  I am, however, terrified of having to face even more misery than I have been.

Oh, but I do have a very specific promise to cling to.  For a while back, I clearly heard our Heavenly Father distinctly tell me, “I will take care of you.”  Still, did He not also take care of Lazarus?

The plight of the materially poor Lazarus should be taken into account whenever we want to assume that everything is going to be what we naturally consider to be all right.  For it is made obvious that our Heavenly Father loved him just as much as He does any of us.

No, none of this is meant to suggest that our Heavenly Father really is as cold-hearted as He has made Himself appear to be in the eyes of this world, but nothing should be taken too much for granted.  For the examples given in His Holy Scriptures of Him coming to the rescue of different individuals are just examples of what He MAY do for others.  Woe be it unto those who make promises in His name that they are not authorized to.

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ESPN Additions

Ironically, some of the best television commercials are for ESPN and only air on ESPN.  Now, I do not know if these ads really are meant to add all the more to the viewing experience, but it works for me.

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