Toy Story 3 - Be Brilliantly Surprised

I will not often blog to endorse a movie. I do however love movies. Before my son came to live with us, my wife and I would go to the late show of some recent film every Friday night. It has been a while since I was surprised by a movie. We took our almost five-year-old son to see “Toy Story 3” yesterday and if you haven’t seen this film, finish reading my blog and then get up and go. It is a jewel for all ages.
Now I promise no spoilers in this entry. But I will tell you that if you have even the slightest pulse, take a box of tissue or 2 to 3 hankies. Your heart will be grabbed in such a way that will move you for hours if not days after the credits roll. (By-the-way, stay for the credits, as always with Pixar.) The new characters are wonderful and compliment beautifully the familiar characters that have become a part of our lives. The script is surprising and just when you have predicted what will happen; the writers throw you a curve ball. There is great humor, edge-of-the-seat drama and, as previously mentioned, thought-provoking heart-wrenching emotion.
Be prepared that some of our old standby characters are mentioned, but do not appear in the film. This, as with all three films, speaks to the truth, the reality, of kids and toys and growing up.
Be sure that there is also another craftily and elaborately devised plan by Woody. That is one brilliant and yet deeply caring cow puncher. If you haven’t guessed he is my favorite. I love all of the characters, they are an orchestra of complimentary personalities, but Woody is the epitome of friendship, loyalty, humanity, frailty, strength, humor and imperfection, and yet he teaches us so many life lessons; the most important being that we cannot make it on our own. We need family, friends and in the case of all sinners we need Jesus Christ.

Abraham Lincoln - The Paradox

For me Abraham Lincoln and his role in the "War Between the States" has become a bit of a problem. Do not get me wrong, I think that he was a good man and in fact I have come to believe that he was the right man at the right time, placed in power providentially as all leaders are. I agree wholeheartedly that the abolition of slavery was paramount. I can find no one with which to disagree on this point.
But the “Civil War” was not initially or primarily about slavery, it was about state’s rights. So where I run into a problem is in the question, “was President Lincoln acting within his power and within the reach of the Constitution?” And whether he was or not, “did he do the right thing by fighting to keep the Union together?” Many southern colonies were worried about the issue of state’s rights when the Constitution was waiting to be ratified. They were worried that the Constitution threatened their way-of-life. The northern states that had already ratified the document enticed the south by saying that if they ratified the Constitution and it was not working for them, the southern colonies could then secede from the Union.
I believe with all of my heart that the southern colonies had the right to secede. But I praise the Lord that a man like Lincoln had the courage to fight to hold this great nation together. I shudder to think how things might have turned out had the hand of the Almighty not reached down and saved this great nation.
Do I fear that a precedent was set, that the commander-in-chief can supersede the Constitution at will? No, we have not seen that in this way since. Have we seen presidents who have tried to get around the Constitution, yes, we have one now, but the voters, the people, will rise up and our system of checks and balances will succeed. God bless the United States of America.

The Rules for Young Ladies in College

These are rules that I have put together that have been tested and proven successful if followed completely. They are rules intended to help a young woman of God be successful at college as well as guard her purity and reputaion in Christ.

The Rules
Rules for the Success of Young College Ladies

These are the rules. You will notice that these are entitled “The Rules”. This means that they are not up for debate. There are no exceptions. These are not guidelines or suggestions, they are rules. I will guarantee you that if you strictly abide by and follow all of these rules; you will have the most wonderful Christian college experience that can possibly be had. These rules have been tried and tested and when followed to the letter, have had a 100% success rate. You will excel not only academically, but in your spiritual life, in your friendships and in purity. These rules will help to set you apart from the ways of the world, not just the secular world, but from the Post-Modern Americana Christian World.
The following rules are in no particular order of importance, save the first rule. You cannot be a truly successful young woman of God unless you view these rules as a whole and not a list from which you can pick or choose. However, if you follow the first rule, then the others will fall into place. I will say that the rest of the rules will be easy if you cling wholly to rule number 1.

1. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul and think through each decision from your Savior’s stand-point and not your own. Use the Bible as a filter through which all of your decisions and thoughts must pass.
2. Set aside time to read the Bible and pray every day. This is vital to the success of this contract. You must have a quiet time.
3. Attend church regularly. Sunday morning is not sleep or homework catch-up time.
4. Work hard. You are at college to get an education, everything else is bonus. Homework comes before all other activities. If you work hard and plan well, you will have time for some of the other activities.
5. Sleep! If you are doing rule number four, then most nights you will have plenty of time to sleep.
6. Go to Class!!! You are paying good money to go to school, it becomes your career while you are in college and missing class can be a major setback. With the exception of perhaps, vomiting or loss of a limb, get to class!
7. Interact in class. Answer questions, give input. Do not be afraid to look foolish, you will look more foolish down the road, if you do not know the information.
8. Visit your professors. Go see them in their offices, ask them questions, and build a rapport. Interact with them in class.
9. Have a calendar, either paper or electronic. Look ahead and enter due dates and plan for major projects. You do not want to be taken by surprise when several things are due at once.
10. Do not be in an exclusive relationship. Make lots of friends, both guys and girls. Through your interactions with many people in large groups you will be able to truly see the way a young man acts and treats others. If you are spending time one-on-one, then you will only see glimpses of what he wants you to see. You will end up marrying your best friend and you will know him very well through that non-exclusive friendship.
11. You are to never be alone with a boy. Never! You are to never ride alone with a boy in a car, no matter how innocent it may seem. You will not be alone with a boy in a room or anywhere else for that matter. You will never pray alone with a boy or study the Bible alone with a boy. Those are intimate things that can lead to other intimate things. If you become a tutor, you will not tutor boys. If you need a study partner, it will not be a boy. No matter how inconvenient it may be, you do not be alone with a boy. Your reputation as a light for Christ is on the line. People may know you pretty well, but they may not know what you are doing while alone with a boy(s).
12. Dress appropriately. If you are advertising, then people will think that you are selling. Help guys be pure, what a favor you can give to the young men around you. Your clothing does not need be tight. Again you can help those around you and you can remember that your body is not yours. It belongs to the Lord and through Him it then belongs to your future husband.
13. Do not flirt. You may not think that you are sending signals or even intend to, but you may very well be anyway. Guys can think that a smile is a sign from above. Seriously, you may have something in your eye and a guy might think that you are winking at him. He might claim, in a group, that blue is his favorite color and so you state that yours is as well, and he will think that you are hinting at something bigger. Guys are just wired so differently than girls. Remember that girls want to be loved and guys want to be touched and to touch. Be aware of every bit of body language that you use, everything that you say and the way that you say it. Pray that everything that you do and say will be taken righteously. Signs may not be your fault, guys are responsible for their own actions, thoughts and feelings, but keep an eye out to see if a guy is sending you signals, based on your interaction.
14. For everything else; refer to rule number one!

Why Do I Blog?

Why do I blog? I am asked this question often. It would be nice if more than just three of you read what I had to say, I feel that I have quality contributions to make, but the main reason for taking the time out of my life to pen my thoughts is simply to straighten my thoughts. On any given day I have so much in my head that it would be nice to have Dumbledore’s Penseive, but I do not. So in my own way I clarify and clear by blogging. How do I choose what thoughts to elucidate? I commonly do not put a thought to ink unless I have a lucid opinion, one in which I am comfortable regardless of who agrees or disagrees. I have, however, had my mind changed from time-to-time and am open to a change of position or at least healthy discussion on most issues save one. I will not change my position on Jesus Christ being the one true God as a member of the Trinity and it is only by Him and through Him one must be saved. Sorry, to burst your bubble if you are an unbeliever, but Christ alone!

The Pinnacle of Fashion

I will probably never understand current fashion trends, especially those of our youth. It does not matter when it might be, when I say current fashion trends, it is always now so the trends are always current and therefore I will never understand current fashion trends.
I always explain to my students how I understand that they truly believe that they have arrived; fashion wise that is. I grew up through the stunning attire of the seventies and eighties. I recall bell-bottom cords, feathered hair, leg-warmers; I even spent some time myself emulating Don Johnson’s Sonny Crockett of Miami Vice. We were certain that we had finally perfected dress. We dabbled in the past, collecting bits and pieces from the fifties, sixties and seventies, but we had, at last, compiled a collection of fashion which would stand the test of time, clothing and hair which would last for the ages to come. Today’s youth are no different. I look back at old yearbooks and with today’s young people at my side; mock the attire of my times of yore. And yet as I ridicule my youth, I am aware that my students and all young people in the United States believe that they have reached the pinnacle of fashion.
So we all do it, we all go through the crazy trends and try extremes in the way that we look and dress. I will not understand, however, what I believe is known as a faux-hawk; a hairstyle of young men arranged by utilizing gel, mousse, superglue or whatever necessary to form the hair into the equivalency of what looks like a chicken in desperate need of being culled.
I also have great difficulty with young men who wear their pants at the base of their bum cheeks as to advertise which brand of boxers they are sporting. For the love of all that is good, if you are that frantic for the world to see your undergarments just wear them over your pants or just don’t wear the pants at all.
But the immense hang-up I have today is the purchasing of a pair of pants, hooded sweatshirt or of any other clothing that looks as though it has gone fifteen rounds with a rabid pit-bull. I generally throw away clothes before they get to the point that I have seen in the mall, let alone wear them in public. The more worn the clothing is, the more shotgun-like holes which the clothing possesses, the higher the price. I should just start selling my worn our jeans on eBay and I could retire by forty-five.
Yes, I know this too shall pass. But, I pray that it will pass quickly, like Henry the VIII’s wives.

Obama's Blundering Morality - Stem Cells

On this day, Monday, March 09, 2009, President Obama will be keeping one of his campaign promises, it is the promise to reverse President George W. Bush’s executive order to stiffly limit the federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. Congratulations Mr. Obama, like King David in the case of Uriah, you have just carefully orchestrated murder. The main difference being that King David was a man after God’s own heart and repented, where Mr. Obama will most likely sleep just fine tonight.
In contrast to President Bush, I do not even condone the research be done on already aborted embryos, as I believe that abortion is immoral. But, to produce embryos solely for research is just wrong. It is argued by myself as well as millions of other morally correct citizens, that abortion and the production of embryos for research is ethically wrong. However, it is argued on the other side that it is morally wrong, for the sake of cures of Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injuries and other diseases, to not utilize this research. Ironically, the best research and only really successful research has come from the study of adult stem cells. And the lives of the adults do not need to be taken for the research to take place. http://www.21stcenturysciencetech.com/articles/winter01/stem_cell.html
I have seen beloved relatives suffer through Parkinson’s and yes I prayed that the disease would be eased, but neither them nor I would have wanted the death of millions of fetuses for this gain.
Obama stated before signing the order, “It is about letting scientists like those here today do their jobs, free from manipulation or coercion, and listening to what they tell us, even when it’s inconvenient – especially when it’s inconvenient.” That is easy to say when you have been given a chance to live outside of a lab dish, a chance to become someone and something, not just produced as a means to an end.
THE END NEVER JUSTIFIES THE MEANS IF THE MEANS IS IMMORAL!
Obama then stated, “ …In recent years, when it comes to stem cell research, rather than furthering discovery, our government has forced what I believe is a false choice between sound science and moral values. In this case, I believe the two are not inconsistent.” It becomes pretty clear that when it comes to morality and truth, President Obama God have two pretty contrasting views.

The “Stars”, Like Sergeant Schultz, “know nothing”

The economy is dropping and looking bleak, let’s ask Lindsey Lohan what she thinks, that will make things better. The United States is in an energy crisis; let’s call Tom Cruise, because he spent many years getting multiple degrees in the sciences (for the record Scientology is not a true science.) We are going to war again, let’s quickly contact Pitt and Jolie, perhaps their experience in violent films will help me sleep at night.
Why do we care what the stars are thinking? Many of them are not thinking at all. It has always stopped me in my tracks. We go to war, we hear from military analysts who have spent their lives actually in the military and studying the same. We hear the opinion of new broadcasters who have great research teams and years of experience in research; we listen to politicians who also have background and some understanding, and then we spend time hearing from the stars. As if Sean Penn’s opinion will place people at ease. I would glean better information from my horoscope as it deals with the heavenly stars. (I do not endorse this course of research either.)
Don’t get me wrong, next to the brilliant soldiers, analysts, reporters and politicians; there are plenty of idiots within their ranks. But what qualifies a movie or music icon to give expert opinion on the major issues that our great country faces? I will tell you, the fans, that’s who. The fans cannot wait to hear what their favorite rocker has to say about the latest crisis. It is the fan, the general public that has elevated the stars to a status of all wisdom. It is all of the masses that can no longer think for themselves because they have been spoon fed shallow scripts that cause them not to think, video games with reset buttons and “music” with lyrics that would drown in a thimble.
I would become a big fan of the Hollywood icon or the Stadium performer who just simply told the truth and said, “I know nothing.”