Soul and Spirit

Father’s Day Message

No, this isn’t a message to my father.

This is a message from me as a father:

That’s your mother you’re talking to!

OK, there’s a second message that’s like unto it:

That’s your mother you’re talking about!

Those are my messages to all children out there.

Here are excerpts on the same subject, as recorded in God’s Word in Proverbs:

“Forsake not the law of thy mother” (1:8).

“A foolish man despiseth his mother” (15:20).

“Despise not thy mother when she is old” (23:22).

“There is a generation that…doth not bless their mother” (30:11).

MCC Iran Silence

Should the Mennonite Central Committee be silent on Iran?

As a Christian and a conservative Mennonite (the latter of which MCC isn’t, by the way), I say they shouldn’t make any political statements regarding the unrest in Iran.

Alas, they have not kept silence when it comes to Israel’s “mistreatment” and “oppression” and so forth of Palestinians. Nor have they kept silence when it has come to saying good things about Iran’s leadership.

Therefore, it seems the folks at CAMERA make a good point:

When it comes to rehabilitating his image in the United States, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad can count on the Mennonite Central Committee for assistance.

The organization has sponsored two dinners and an interfaith pilgrimage to Tehran during which Christian leaders have met with the Iranian President and offered kind words about the man afterwards.

Now that events demonstrate that Ahmadinejad is the public face of a brutal regime willing to suppress the people it governs, the organization has fallen silent.

After more than two days of protests and violence in Iran, the MCC has not published any statement about the organization on its website, nor does it have any plans to.

Even though I don’t identify with MCC, I still cringe at that kind of negative publicity seared to the the term Mennonite. 🙁

Oh, the above-quoted story is dated June 15. I just probed the MCC site and found no current Iran-related statement.

Maybe MCC has turned over a new leaf and has decided to stay out of politics. If that is the case, I commend them for that.

Reflective Snippets

At the end of my print reading earlier this morning:

Love thyself last. Look near, behold thy duty
To those who walk beside thee down life’s road.
Make glad their days by little acts of beauty
And help them bear the burden of earth’s load. —Wilcox

And from my online reading:

“I’m holding one more broken piece from the edifice of pride I’ve tended around my ego….” —Tony Woodlief

“The mistake he sometimes made was in attempting to mandate others to be like him….” —Marvin Olasky

“Came away grateful despite all his sadness and torments….” (Olasky still writing about Calvin)

“Uh. . . what exactly does it mean if an oven is self-cleaning?” —Matt Smucker

I think people of peace often feel that they are not useful. I’m sure that people within the conflict often suspect that those attempting to be peacemakers don’t fully understand the conflict. When peace is always on your mind, when it is the thing you’re striving for, can you truly understand the language of those who are prolonging the conflict? —Will Loewen

What has you reflecting?

To the Hilt

What do you do when you discover the hard way that someone you should have been able to trust had a dagger up his sleeve…waiting for your back to be turned?

(Figuratively, of course.)

How do you respond to someone who deals nicely with you to your face…but easily deals treacherously with you otherwise?

😥

Iranian Birdies?

Look, I’m no gullible neophyte, OK? Maybe what I’m linking to is a set of shams.

But the idea of using Twitter this way is fascinating to me.

Share photos on twitter with Twitpic

That was allegedly taken in Iran. (Click for larger image.)

And here are links to two Twitter-ers claiming to be in Iran: Change_for_Iran and persiankiwi.

May the Lord keep His people. And use them as lights in the night.

HT: WorldMagBlog

Above all, love God!
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