Mark's Views, Perhaps — from behind my eyeballs
“”He prayed earnestly” (James 5:17).
What compels me to pray earnestly?
Not much.
Usually, a huge spiritual crisis…particularly in my family.
Nobody said I had to wait that long!
I believe earnest prayer can minimize and even prevent such crises from happening.
So pray, Mark!
Don’t grow lax and lazy.
Don’t be forgetful.
Don’t get tired and discouraged.
Don’t give up.
I wonder what you’re expecting to read about.
Pardon my use of such a hook.
I do not like the use of chicks to refer to women of any age, “hot” or not. I consider it demeaning.
But I decided to use it in my post title for effect and as a snag.
And to make a point.
| Yemen confronts plight of child brides
Two months ago, at the start of the school vacation, 12-year-old Reem was forced to marry her 30-year-old cousin. “While my hair was styled for the ceremony, I thought of ways to set fire to my wedding dress,” she says. “When I protested, my dad gagged me and tied me up. After the wedding, I tried to kill myself twice.” Reem is the latest child bride to run from her husband’s arms into the media spotlight. But she is not the youngest girl to escape from domestic violence and sexual abuse in recent months. This spring, 9-year-old Arwa and 10-year-old Nujood became the first “tiny voices” to alert the world to Yemen’s widespread practice of child marriage. The girls’ stories have instigated a campaign against the practice, which is believed to be a consequence of widespread poverty as parents unable to provide for their children give, and in some cases sell, them into matrimony. According to estimates based on surveys by university researchers and development agencies, half of all brides in Yemen are age 18 or younger. But there are no reliable national figures. Child brides are prevalent in Yemen because the minimum marriage age of 15 was revoked a decade ago to allow parents to decide when their daughters should marry. The ruling abides by an interpretation of the Koran that claims there is no prescribed age for marriage. Deep-rooted traditions also play a role. |
😥
![[Righteousness keepeth him that is upright in the way (Proverbs 13:6)]](/pantinghart/wp-content/righteousnesskeepeth-s.jpg "Righteousness keepeth him that is upright in the way (Proverbs 13:6)")
To live right…live right.
To do right…choose right.
To stay on the road…make that determination.
In other words, deciding to make right choices sure makes it more likely that I will make right choices.
It amazes me to see people (including me) trying to follow Jesus…but making choices (even “little” ones) that don’t contribute to staying in The Way.
Oh, and if you want to see what else I wrote this morning related to Proverbs 13, click the image above. In fact, I wish you would.
(By the way, I took the picture last winter while driving on Oregon’s Highway 26 in the Mt. Hood area. We were on our way to Madras.)
No, I’m not posting any of my spectacular sunset pictures. Not in this post, anyway.
| Most inhumanities start small, like the beginning of a tsunami, but then build, as they head toward inevitable and unstoppable destruction.
It is difficult to pinpoint the precise beginning of the cultural tsunami that has devalued human life. Did it begin with the subjugation of women? Did it begin with slavery? The Nazis made their contribution with the Holocaust and Josef Mengele’s hideous human experiments. Surely unrestricted abortion added to the growing list of inhumanities. Now we have the next wave. Randy Stroup is a 53-year-old Oregon man who has prostrate cancer, but no insurance to cover his medical treatment. The state pays for treatment in some cases, but it has denied help to Stroup. State officials have determined that chemotherapy would be too expensive and so they have offered him an alternative: death. |
Adds new meaning to what Governor Tom McCall famously said on national TV way back in the 70s:
“Come visit us again and again. But for heaven’s sake, don’t come here to live.”
Yup, we’re the Pacific Wonderland, alright.
Companies import poisonous Chinese toothpaste in disguise
| Four defendants pleaded guilty yesterday to importing from China more than a half million tubes of toothpaste falsely labeled as the popular brand Colgate and containing a toxic chemical found in antifreeze.
According to a U.S. Department of Justice statement, the defendants were responsible for 518,028 tubes of toothpaste worth an estimated $730,419 that were shipped into the country and distributed to bargain retail stores in several states last year. […] The toothpaste itself was nearly indistinguishable in its packaging color and design from Colgate, but a few spelling errors and a false label statement that the product was made in South Africa identified the counterfeit. The toothpaste was actually manufactured in China, which has a long and grisly history of manufacturing poisonous toothpaste, prompting the FDA last year to warn consumers from using any toothpaste made in the communist country. […] Colgate-Palmolive, which sells toothpaste and toothbrushes in more than 200 countries, according the Department of Justice report, has inspected several thousand discount stores over the past year to identify and remove the counterfeit toothpaste marketed under its name. |
That’s a good one. 🙂
This next one is kinda weird in its redundancy. But sad.
May she have found grace.
And so may the others affected by this tragedy.
To access a larger version of the graphic — and to be reminded of something else to try today — click the above image.
Thank you!