Soul and Spirit

Two of My Friends

As I mentioned on November 22, two of my friends got married that day in Ahome, Sinaloa, Mexico.

(Congratulations, Philip and Perla, and God bless you in unending abundance!)

Our daughter-in-law Shari sent us a picture CD. We got it last night via my folks who just returned from Mexico. Here are extractions from three of those photos:

Philip and Perla Strubhar on their wedding day in Ahome, Sinaloa, Mexico

Philip and Perla and their parents

Philip Strubhar and Russell Roth prior to the former's wedding

Sorry, I decided not to post larger versions of these.

Oh, and the young fellow on the right on the last picture is husband of the above-mentioned photographer, our son Russell.

Terror Strike: India

Reuters reports: Mumbai hit by deadly attacks

At least 10 people were killed and 26 wounded in a series of shootings around India’s financial capital Mumbai on Wednesday night, with two five-star hotels among the targets in what police called a terror attack.

Maharahstra state police chief A.N. Roy said attackers had fired automatic weapons indiscriminately, and used grenades, adding that they were still holed up in some buildings.

“These are terrorist strikes in at least seven places,” he told the NDTV news channel.

“Unknown terrorists have gone with automatic weapons and opened fire indiscriminately. At a few places they even used grenades.

Police said targets included the luxury Taj and Oberoi hotels, with television stations showing the lobby of both hotels on fire and people being evacuated from the Oberoi with their hands on their heads.

But the Times of India reports at least 80 dead:

Terror struck the country’s financial capital late on Wednesday night as coordinate serial explosions and indiscriminate firing rocked eight areas across Mumbai including the crowded CST railway station, two five star hotels–Oberoi and Taj.

At least 80 people were dead and 250 injured in the terror attacks, hospital sources said.

Two terrorists were still inside the Oberoi Hotel and commando operation was on.

Is this an effort to further destabilize the global economy?

Does it portend attacks on other financial centers?

Who knows. Maybe Al Qaeda. Certainly God.

There’s also this headline out there: Report of Terror Threat on Subways

The New York Police Department deployed extra officers and stepped up security measures in the subways and other mass-transit stations on Wednesday after learning of al Qaeda discussions to coordinate a wave of explosions in the subway system over the holidays, the authorities announced.

Well, whatever’s going on, we need to pray for those in authority and in law enforcement and in emergency services.

And for those suffering in India.

And for God’s people, that they may rise to represent His love and compassion and helpfulness.

Thanksgiving Day

Yeah, I know — Thanksgiving Day is tomorrow in the United States.

But why can’t it be every day in my part of the world (which is normally in the United States)?!

Huh, now?

So I purpose to generate a Thankfulness Post once a day. Furthermore, I’ve added a Thankful category and a Gratefulness tag.

(I know, I know — this blog is top-heavy with tags. I need to do some drastic housecleaning and see if I can trim the count down from > 600 to < 30.)

So…for what do I want to say thanks right now?

WordPress and plugins and themes — they drive my six blogs.

Six? 😯

Six 😀

Still Far to Fall

That’s the title of Tony’s piece this morning over at WorldMagBlog. Here are just a few chunks thereof:

Nobody knows where the bottom is for our economy, but the experts agree we aren’t anywhere close to it yet.

We were spiritually poor as well, none of us attending church, mostly because we only knew the kinds of churches where people eagerly look for the failings of others, places where drinking and pornography were regularly denounced, but in which gossip ran rampant.

I carry it in me like a poison, this fear, not for myself any more, but for them, that they will want more food than we have, that they will have to sleep in someone’s basement.

And yet the lover of our souls tells us to worry not for tomorrow, because today’s troubles are sufficient. Let the children come to me, he says, and he may as well have said that we’d best bring them. Because if we are not leading them to him then we are leading them astray, and only God knows what he will do to such parents as that.

Things are going to get worse for many of us. Our children will be watching. The truth is, I don’t know if I trust the Lord to take care of us. And yet these little ones will be watching, and listening, and storing up memories of what it means to be a Christian in times of hardship.

Thanks again, Tony! This dad needs reminders like that.

She Wants Attention

That’s what crossed my mind as I read her article.

OK, so I’ll call some her way. 🙄

Giving Up on God

As Republicans sort out the reasons for their defeat, they likely will overlook or dismiss the gorilla in the pulpit.

Three little letters, great big problem: G-O-D.

I’m bathing in holy water as I type.

To be more specific, the evangelical, right-wing, oogedy-boogedy branch of the GOP is what ails the erstwhile conservative party and will continue to afflict and marginalize its constituents if reckoning doesn’t soon cometh.

Ma’am, God is a great big problem. You got a problem with that?

She continues:

Simply put: Armband religion is killing the Republican Party.

Armband religion — that’s the problem, not God!

What everyone needs is a heart-strings, shoe-strings, purse-strings religion — sincere, genuine, committed, liveable.

And there’s more from KP:

So it has been for the Grand Old Party since the 1980s or so, as it has become increasingly beholden to an element that used to be relegated to wooden crates on street corners.

I say the world needs more preachers “doing” the Gospel on wooden crates on street corners rather than “doing” politics on plush platforms in religiousy buildings.

Then, enveloped in smoke while blindfolded, she adds:

Which is to say, the GOP has surrendered its high ground to its lowest brows.

Oh my! 😯 What makes them “lowest brows”? (Please note: The question does not imply disagreement with the statement.)

And what do you make of this assertion?

And shifting demographics suggest that the Republican Party — and conservatism with it — eventually will die out unless religion is returned to the privacy of one’s heart where it belongs.

It belongs there, yes.

But not to stay there!

And if that’s true of religion, it’s far more true of Jesus Christ.

He belongs in the privacy of your heart. And from there He will live out His life through yours.

Now, one more comment from Kathleen Parker:

Meanwhile, it isn’t necessary to evict the Creator from the public square, surrender Judeo-Christian values or diminish the value of faith in America.

Oh?

Breaking News Thought: Does this mean she supports nativity scenes in the public square?

Now for the funniest part of the article:

Kathleen Parker

I think somebody at the Washington Post better fix that!

HT: Harris, commenting over at WorldMagBlog.

Above all, love God!