:: Narrow-minded simpleton ::

:: Thursday, January 31, 2002 ::

 
"Observe the sabbath day to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath...you shall not do any work." Deuteronomy 5:12-14

I got a call two Sunday mornings ago from a telemarketer.

I was getting ready for church as usual, when the phone rang.

"Hello?"

A second of silence, then "Hello? Mrs. Moore? I'm so-and-so calling on behalf of the Paralyzed Veterans of America..."

"Hmmm," I thought, "what's up with this? It's Sunday morning! Shouldn't this guy be in church instead?"

"Mrs. Moore, I am a telemarketer working on behalf of the PVA..."

"Uh, excuse me, before you go on any further. How much of my contribution would go to your company and how much would go toward the PVA?"

"Ma'am, you'll have to call this 1-800 number to find that out."

"Well, then, I'll do that. And, by the way, I don't appreciate you calling me on Sunday morning. I'm getting ready for church, and this is supposed to be a day of rest."

"Yes, ma'am, I understand, but you have to understand that this is one of the best times to catch people at home..."

So, their purpose is to catch soft-hearted Christians on their way to church, and to catch those that don't go to church by waking them up on their day to sleep-in. Good marketing plan.

As for me and my household, we shall serve the Lord, and we shall not be giving money to the PVA.

:: Julie 1/31/2002 04:14:00 AM [+] ::
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Monday, January 28 is the 16th anniversary of the Challenger accident.

I was standing outside of my office, as we did for every launch, watching it all happen. I was a NASA employee at the Kennedy Space Center.

At first, when I saw the solid rocket boosters flying free and the big white cloud of gas where the Orbiter should have been, I panicked and thought, "Oh, no, I'm supposed to cover a Return to Launch Site Abort (RTLS), and my vehicle placard is in my office!"

I just couldn't fathom that the Orbiter had been broken apart by aerodynamic forces.

I also couldn't fathom later how God could cause this to happen.

You see, I was not a Christian then, but after the Challenger accident, I began to ask God "WHY?!" And, through a Christian boyfriend of mine, God began to speak to me.

God told me through His Word, the Bible, that He does love me, but I still had lots of questions. How could someone who lived 2000 years ago have any influence on me or even care about me? How come some people die undeservedly? What's it all about, anyway?

The end result over a year later, on April Fool's Day 1987 was that I finally decided that to get all my questions answered, I needed to heed to what the Bible said in John 14:6 where Jesus said, "I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

To get my questions answered, I had to go through Jesus. ""Fine," I thought. "I'll ask Jesus into my heart like the Bible says and see if He answers my questions." Right there in my car on my way to work that morning, I told Jesus I was a sinner and asked for His forgiveness and asked Him to be Lord.

No bells flashed, no sirens rang, but I sure was relieved that I'd finally get answers to my questions. And, I did.

God used the Challenger accident to bring me to Him. He allowed it to happen so that many would question life, faith, death and their own actions. He did not cause it to happen, he allowed it to happen because we have turned our backs on Him for so long.

If we seek His face, He will bless us. If we turn from Him, He withdraws His blessing. Just look at Israel. More people die there almost every week than the seven we lost in the Challenger accident.

Let's turn to God!

:: Julie 1/26/2002 05:59:00 AM [+] ::
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K-mart is Blue-Light Specialing itself today. Filed for bankruptcy protection.

You know why this happened? Because K-mart had bowed to the worldly god of filth, violence and immorality.

And Christians voiced their dismay and then boycotted. I sure did.

And now, K-mart's demise is full. I'm sure my and your taxpayer dollars will bail them out, as well as Enron, but still, this could be a lesson to other discount superstores: watch what you're putting out there in your store for consumers.

If the bottom line is $$$ and selling trash, you may end up with none of the former and plenty of the latter.

:: Julie 1/22/2002 02:09:00 PM [+] ::
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Today is the 29th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion in the Roe v. Wade case.

Since that decision, almost 30 million human beings have been aborted.

30 million.

Was one of those 30 million children your sister? Your brother? Mom, Dad, was that your very own child?

Some say that Roe v. Wade gave a woman the right to choose what happens to her own body. I am pro-choice, of sorts. Let me explain.

Usually, "Pro-Choice" refers to someone who believes that a woman has the right to do with her own body what she wants; she makes the choices as to what happens to it. So, if an unwanted pregnancy happens, a "Pro-Choice" woman believes she has the right to terminate that pregnancy by abortion, no matter where she is in her pregnancy term.

I subscribe to the belief that a woman should be "Pro-Choice" before she becomes pregnant. She chooses to refrain from using her body to have sex outside of marriage! It is in that sense that I am "pro-choice!"

This same woman who cries for her rights to kill her unborn baby is the same woman who should not have gotten pregnant in the first place! It takes two to tango, and the choices she makes before having sex (not afterward!) are most important.

Yes, there are cases of rape. Yes, there are cases of incest. Would I personally want to carry a baby to term that is a product of rape, or a product of a man whom I thought loved me, then ran off?

No, I would not, but then again, there are so very many loving couples in this world trying desperately to have a baby, and I suggest I could overcome my hate for the man that did that to me by offering a gift to a childless couple by placing that innocent life up for adoption. Is it not written in Romans 12:21, "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good?"

Life is precious. Choose life!

:: Julie 1/22/2002 03:44:00 AM [+] ::
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Today we celebrate the January 15, 1929 birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.


This man really inspires me. He spoke so very eloquently, so forcefully, so passionately! He spoke with reason, with conviction, with love.

Dr. King called upon Christians to be Christ-like, where there is no Jew or Greek, no male or female, no slave or free under Christ Jesus. To do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with thy God!

I cannot wait to get to Heaven to say hello to him, to shake his hand, give him a big hug and tell him how much I appreciated his pursuit of a better world for all people, but especially equal rights for Persons of Color. Created equally by a loving God.

How much we need to see every person as a beautiful creation of God, no matter what their skin hue! To treat our neighbors as Jesus would have treated them. Yes, Jesus was angry with some people like the moneychangers who defiled the Temple, but walked daily and sought out sinners like myself for healing, justice, and mercy.

Dr. King was that kind of person: Christ-like. Reaching people for Christ, standing up for injustice, convicting people of their sin. We need more people today like Martin Luther King, Jr.!

:: Julie 1/21/2002 07:17:00 AM [+] ::
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Why I am a narrow-minded right-wing young-earth creationist simpleton:

Jesus Christ.

Pretty short answer for such a long descriptor, eh? Well, when you get right down to brass tacks (whatever that is), He is the reason why I am what I am.

And He is the Great I Am!

Therefore, as a child of Jesus Christ, it's up to me to not only know, but to share, that He is the Way the Truth and the Life; that no person comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6). Therefore, I must be "narrow-minded" because God Himself said that Jesus is the Only Way to Him.

I'm right-wing because my political ideologies pretty much line up with those the media and other left-wingers call "right wing."

I'm a young Earth creationist because I believe what God wrote in Genesis is true, historical, literal fact. Not allegory, and there's no room for gaps or millions of years. It says in Genesis, "evening and morning the first day," and in other parts of the Old Testament, the Hebrew word "yom," or "day" means 24 hours. Therefore, it took God 6 literal days and therefore the Earth is only ~6000 years old. Fitting millions of years or gaps into the equation is trying to fit man's falliable intrepretation of the geologic and astronomic data into God's perfect creation.

And, I'm a simpleton, because God's message is simple. He loves you, he has created a Way for you to be with Him forever, and all you must do is simply accept His gift. Eternal life comes through the personal acceptance of Jesus atoning death and resurrection. It's just that simple.

Come just as you are!

:: Julie 1/16/2002 09:44:00 AM [+] ::
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Talk about feeling out of place!

I am at a week-long conference where the conference hotel is the Ritz-Carlton. Now, I may be from East Tennessee, but I do wear shoes and have only umbrellas in my gun rack in my 4x4 pickup truck. So, on a scale of hickiness, I'd say I'm about a 4 (with 10 being hickiest).

But, still, it's odd to walk the halls of this hotel and be greeted constantly with "Good Day, how are you?" and "Good evening, how was your day?" by hotel staff also walking the halls. And I hear the conference banquet/buffet tonight is upwards of $70/head. And there is nothing but valet parking! So, every time I want to leave, I gotta fork over $1 or $2 for someone to bring my car up front.

Part of this is good; the chocolates on my pillow, the USA Today outside my door in the morning, the rose on my $12.00 chicken sandwich lunch tray.

I see hotel guests in dinner jackets and pearls, obviously wealthy, and yet aloof. No smiles on their faces, just seriousness or averted looks. And I wonder, "are they happy?"

Does money buy happiness? Even from my 4-on-a-scale-of-10 hickiness, I observe that it doesn't. Maybe that's why I feel out of place at this hotel - it's not the money/opulence part of staying here, it's the happiness (or lack of a true, deep, real, lasting happiness) part.

Luke 6:24, ""What sorrows await you who are rich, for you have your only happiness now." (New Living Translation)

:: Julie 1/08/2002 03:02:00 PM [+] ::
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I am an idiot.

I was not wanting to go to my church choir's Easter music (early) practice this morning from 0830-1200, because we'd done it two years ago and I felt like I knew it and didn't need the practice. Basically, honestly, truthfully, I'm lazy and wanted to surf the 'Net instead of going to practice.

As we went over the songs at practice, I recalled vivid scenes in my imagination from our performance two years ago. Jesus being scourged, nailed to the cross, dying...and His resurrection. All this He did for me! (And you)!

And suddenly, I felt small. Very small. I wanted to piddle around the 'Net or work on my car, instead of singing God's glory!

What an idiot.

:: Julie 1/05/2002 03:22:00 PM [+] ::
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HAPPY NEW YEAR!

:: Julie 1/01/2002 09:07:00 AM [+] ::
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