Buried: Sifra and Ocean

I do not live in a news vacuum. But I just learned this: Florida teen murders street preachers.

Titus Sifra and Steven Ocean have been buried. I assume.

So has the story of their murder and apparent martyrdom. I just used Google to search the Web for stories mentioning both of their names. Results: 64 pages. So I did a news search. Results: 3 pages. Finally I did a blog search. Results: 5 pages.

Everyday hundreds of people fall victim to street violence in the US. On the evening of Jan. 30, Steven Ocean, 23, and Titus Sifra, 24, became victims as well when Jeriah Woody, 18, shot and killed them at point-blank range after they shared the message of Christ with him, according to a witness.

The witness said Woody got a phone call and said he “had to go” after listening to the two for 15 minutes. He turned and started walking in the other direction, but then he suddenly turned back towards the three men wielding a gun. He shot Sufra at point-blank range. When the Ocean ran, he chased after him, shot him from behind, walked up to him and shot him in the head execution style. The witness ran in the other direction and escaped.

However, although the case is almost two weeks old now, there has been little media coverage.

Did you know?

Dear Credit Card User

For more than a week I’ve been planning to write to you about your credit cards.

Now I just read that Changes to credit card rules won’t perfectly protect consumers. The writer makes some of the same points I was planning to make, though mine are based on personal experience and not on research of the new laws.

Another change generally keeps lenders from raising interest rates on existing balances, though you still could see rates go up on new purchases, provided they send a warning of the change.

Consumers received a taste of this desperation in the last few months. Knowing that by Feb. 22 their interest income would be reduced, lenders raised rates, changed credit limits and dropped many customers.

Even people who paid on time were shocked by the changes lenders used to cut their risks and enhance revenue.

Now comes Phase 2. Analysts expect consumers to be hit with new fees, such as annual fees for holding credit cards and penalties for rarely or never using cards.

The law requires that people be notified clearly of changes, but many people ignore their mail.

“…lenders raised rates, changed credit limits and dropped many customers,”” she wrote.

Some of them certainly did for me!

A couple raised their rates.

Another dropped credit limits because of card inactivity. (That reduction was in the range of $10K.)

Yet another simply closed a had-not-been-used-in-a-long-time business card.

And all of the above were utterly unexpected. And none of the actions were because of some recent bad activity of mine. The card holders were just getting ready for the new law to go into effect.

Interestingly, though, Discover Card treated me quite differently on a personal card. First of all, they slashed my interest rate. And did so retroactively by a month or so. (I called them to ask for a reduction.) Thank you, Discover! You guys have been nice to me before; I appreciate that.

Haiti: Five Gallon Challenge

Makeshift schools popping up in Haiti

Makeshift schools are popping up all over the ruins of Port-au-Prince. Along with the government infrastructure, it will take a long time to rebuild Haiti’s education structure.

[…]

Steve Geurink with Worldwide Christian Schools says they’re partnering with CRECHE, a network of Christian groups with 231 schools in Haiti. “Over 200 schools were either damaged or destroyed in this earthquake, resulting in about 60,000 children not able to go to school and 1500-2000 teachers not able to teach.”

[…]

Getting schools up and running is critical for recovery on many levels. Geurink says, “Christian schools can best answer the questions for those children, so I think it not only is necessary to get children back into schools for a normal lifestyle for them, but it is the best method for the children even to be able to cope.”

The “Five Gallon Challenge” is simple: find a five-gallon bucket, fill it with donations, and give that donation through WWCS as part of this massive rebuilding project. Geurink explains, “This will be a yearlong campaign which would then result in us eventually sending our volunteer work teams to Haiti. We plan to be rebuilding in Haiti.”

One of life’s mysteries: A five-gallon bucket will hold much more than a ten-gallon hat. Go figure.

Had You Heard?

Tests show bagged greens in Oregon, elsewhere have bacteria

Obama used National Prayer Breakfast to attack anti-sodomy laws for Uganda

Al Qaeda poised to try major attack in United States within 3-6 months, intelligence chiefs warn

UN calls for treaty to prevent cyber war

Obama Administration Admits It Wrongly Tracked Abortion Groups in Wisconsin

US says it may kill Americans abroad

Religious attire mirrors tenets of faith

June Bontrager, Porter Mennonite Church

I Got Me a New Nephew

So I featured myself in a nice, impromptu, little photoshoot with some neat props.

Here he is, singing with my niece at their wedding reception this past Saturday afternoon:

Brandon and Karina Boss singing at their reception
Karina and Brandon Boss singing with their youth group

And there they are again:

Brandon and Karina (Roth) Boss with their youth group
Youth group: Hopewell Mennonite Church

And here are his new aunt and cousins (the latter who also served as bride’s maids):

Ruby Roth and bride's maid daughters
My wife and daughters!

For myself of myself, while the rest of the morning pre-wedding crew was out photographing up a storm, I “snuck” into the reception hall for a little photo shoot of my own:

Mark Roth before Brandon and Karina's reception
Self-Portrait: “Crazy Uncles Belong in the Corner”

Of that last one, original-size copies are available for download for a mere $3 donation. Don’t miss your opportunity to own your own classic.

🙄

Haiti: Got a Tarp?

In yesterday’s news….

Today CAM received confirmation that another of our large air-shipments of medicines arrived safely in Port-au-Prince. These medicines will be distributed to clinics and hospitals in earthquake-stricken areas.

Our staff in Haiti requested 10,000 tarps for shelter material. Gary Miller writes, “The need continues for food, water, and shelter. Much of the population in Port-au-Prince is sleeping under sheets, if they have anything sheltering them at all.” CAM air-lifted more than 1,000 tarps this week, and many more will be sent week.

At our warehouse in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, staff are loading sea-containers with food parcels and bulk food items to ship to Haiti. A sea-container left our warehouse yesterday, and another is scheduled to leave today.

Source: CAM air-shipment lands in Port-au-Prince

Above all, love God!

since November 9, 2005
Private