Proverbs 20:26
Nuts, Leaves, Bird, Moon, Nose
Hopewell Mennonite Church parking lot
Flying With Child
Dave Barry takes an imaginary journey, starting this way:
We set out with a sense of foreboding. If you ever feel a boding, and later on something bad happens, that was a foreboding.
We were traveling from Miami to Minnesota, a state located near, or possibly inside, Canada. The reason we felt a boding was that we were carrying a live baby, and we had stupidly elected to travel by airplane. I think that, instead of making such a big deal about weapons, the airlines ought to start cracking down on babies.
So………………………………was he trying to be funny or dumb?
When I had the opportunity to travel (kinda) with Benjie G, he was a super baby traveler. By air. By land. Wow!
Write It!
If your excuse is poor handwriting, flush that excuse. Or heave it out the window. Or cut it up into little pieces and mix them in with the dog’s food. Do something other than hang on to it!
With e-mail, text messaging, and instant messaging, a handwritten note is getting rarer and therefore more special.
[…]
66 percent of U.S. Internet users said email was their preferred channel for written communications between friends.
Every week, the average person receives 1.5 personal letters.
[…]
There is warmth in a handwritten note — it instantly makes the message more personal, creates a more intimate feeling, and makes the recipient feel more valued.
With e-mail and instant messaging, a handwritten note is getting rarer and therefore more special.
The full article is, well, fuller: A Note of Gratitude.
India: More Extreme Extremists
I am again grateful for religious freedom here in the United States.
New anti-conversion legislation coupled with more “extreme” Hindu extremist cells rising up across India make the future of Christians throughout the country look much more challenging.
First, “To further its campaign against Christianity, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party BJP has demanded an amendment in the Indian constitution to check religious conversions,” according to Christian Today.
While seven states across India already have anti-conversion legislation, if this amendment passed, all of India would have to abide by its regulations and not just scattered states throughout the country.
[…]
In addition to anti-conversion legislation, accompanying the good news of BJP slowly losing ground and facing “a potentially uncertain and unstable future,” according to Christian Today, there is also more bad news for Christians.
As BJP loses popularity, new extremist groups who claim to breakaway factions of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Hindu extremist umbrella organization, are launching their campaign against Christians. These groups go by names such as the Abhinav Bharat (Pride of India), the Rashtriya Jagran Manch (National Revival Forum) and the Hindu Dharam Sena (Army for Hindu Religion).
These new organizations viewed RSS and BJP as “too mild,” according to Baptist Press, and they advocate increased violence against Christians. These beliefs have been supported in their actions with several attacks in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Jabalpur since 2006.
As persecution worsens in India, Christians need to step up and not be afraid to share their faith, Stavers said.
Also, though many actions are restricted, Christians can still do several things to reach the searching of India.
Source: Mission Network News: Political climate makes conditions even worse for Indian Christians.
Safe Credit Cards Project
Is there an oxymoron in somewhere that tile? 😯
If you’e one of the millions of Americans holding a credit card, this isn’t necessarily news: Credit-card issuers are hiking interest rates, penalties and fees in full force ahead of stringent new laws that take effect in February.
In fact, 400 credit cards from the nation’s 12 largest bank issuers — accounting for 90 percent of the $889 billion in outstanding consumer revolving credit — are still using most of the same tactics that the Federal Reserve has called “unfair or deceptive” and that will be outlawed in fewer than four months, according to a new report from the Pew Health Group’s Safe Credit Cards Project.
[…]
Credit-card companies recognize the pain they are inflicting on many consumers. “We understand that customers don’t like price increases, especially in difficult economic times,” Citi said in a statement. “However, these actions are necessary given the doubling of credit card losses across the industry from customers not paying back their loans and regulatory changes that eliminate repricing for that risk.”
[…]
The Pew study also doesn’t include key changes that became law Aug. 20. Card issuers must now alert customers 45 days ahead of any increases and allow them to opt out, moves that eliminated the hair-trigger repricing and gave consumers the choice to say no.
In recent weeks, many cardholders have received those notices, some with pages of explanations. They’ve also been informed of new fees coming as card issuers look at ways to offset the loss of the hefty revenues streams they have long enjoyed from upping interest rates “at any time, for any reason,” as the disclosures generally stated, as well as late and transfer fees.
There’s a lot more at the full article here: Credit-card countdown: Banks gouge consumers ahead of new law
An American Second
“I’m American Second” — somebody quoted the Ft. Hood shooter as saying that.
And to a point, I can identify with that sentiment. (No, no, no — I don’t at all condone what Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan did; I condemn it.)