Words I strive to live by.

From The Message version.

Romans 12


1 -2 So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

3I'm speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.

4 -6In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we're talking about is Christ's body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn't amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ's body, let's just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren't.

6 -8If you preach, just preach God's Message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don't take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don't get bossy; if you're put in charge, don't manipulate; if you're called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don't let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.

9 -10Love from the center of who you are; don't fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.

11 -13Don't burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don't quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.

14 -16Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they're happy; share tears when they're down. Get along with each other; don't be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don't be the great somebody.

17 -19Don't hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you've got it in you, get along with everybody. Don't insist on getting even; that's not for you to do. "I'll do the judging," says God. "I'll take care of it."

20 -21Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he's thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don't let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.

"can I give misoprostol to my girlfriend?"

Yes, folk you heard right. Someone from Pittsburgh stumbled upon my blog after entering in that very search. It seems quite likely that he doesn't like this whole "daddy" thing and his girl friend hasn't made the "right" "choice" to abort.

There's actually a book on this very subject that I haven't read. It's called Misconception by Robert Shapiro. Yes that Robert Shapiro. Again I haven't read the story but apparently it deals with the court fall out of slipping a woman the abortion pill.

Of course It would be prudent for this anti-daddy to consider that at least 7 women have died after taking the pill. Though I have little faith that once fallen down the rabbit hole of murder, one worries himself over fringe casualties.

Does anyone have any information regarding a woman being given RU486 against her will?

Make your own e-candy hearts.

http://www.cryptogram.com/hearts/

Prayer Request-Ashely Adams

I follow the story of Ashley at her parents blog Ashley's Journal
Today her mother posted the following-

Already today has proved itself to be stressful. We are putting Ash through more and more testing searching for answers as to why she just can't stop her screaming.

Yesterday's CT scan revealed more to us than the fractured ribs. It also showed us that the nodules we had been treating since Dec. 26th that were suspected to be mold have not responded to treatment and they are actually spreading. One has already become cavitated which tells us that the body has formed a capsule around it trying to keep it from spreading any further. Instead of showing only 2 suspicious areas we now are finding 4. We are on our way to do another CT scan but this one will be of her head. They are looking to see if the infectious nodules have spread from her lungs to her brain. Unreal! This is what I said to them. They told me it is actually the first place it can spread to. They are wondering if this is causing the sudden screaming and altering her personality. OK, I was just joking last night when I though she woke up from anesthesia with a whole new attitude, but these doctors are serious.

The other concern with the nodules in the lung is that they have not identified them yet. Infectious disease came in to talk to me and said that they must rule out the possibility of them being a cancer. Unfortunately this can occur in transplanted patients. They are scheduling a lung biopsy as soon as possible to go in and get samples in order to test them. I can't tell you what I am feeling at this moment. I think I am still a little numb from the direction this has taken. There are obviously large risks associated with the lung biopsy and I would prefer not to think about any of them taking place. They have tried to prepare me that she will be on the ventilator and sedated for a few days after the biopsy. At some point I believe that I will probably break under this pressure but for now I continue to listen to her screaming and pray that He will help.

I want answers and I want relief for my sweet Ashley. She is beyond exhausted. At the conclusion of the CT scan we will go over to radiology to have the skeletal scan done to see if she has suffered from any more fractures.

I will post more later, but for now they are wheeling her out the door. I would truly be grateful for your prayers today. Trish

I'm just spreading the word so more can pray.

Barriers

We talk about barrier methods primarily in terms of protection. In a world full of promiscuous sexual activity, we are faced with a plethora of sexual infections. Indeed, if your lifestyle choice involves sleeping with many different people, or even one person who has slept with many different people, "protection" should be on the forefront of your mind. I wont go into the shoddy effectiveness condoms offer in this regard, but I did want to point out that I understand that condoms exist to protect against things other than children.

This post is not addressed to the swinging New York crowd, but rather to Christian suburban housewives. Outside the Catholic Church, very few denominations talk about birth control. Those that do focus on potentially abortificient chemical methods. Condoms, it seems, are fair game.

After the birth of our son my husband and I briefly used this method of birth control. It was beyond our scope that doing so could possibly be an affront to God or our own marriage. Only those silly Catholics don't believe in condoms, and we my friend, were not Catholic.

One day, after becoming increasingly active in the pro-life cause, I stumbled upon a discussion of birth control. I flippantly closed the window dismissing any ties that condoms and abortion may share. To prevent is one thing, to kill quite another! Right?

The seed of doubt was planted. I prayerfully asked God for direction on the issue. The answer was quite clear-Condom's "protect" the married couple from blessing.

"But God," I reasoned "you are sovereign, if you want a couple pregnant all condoms in the world wont stop it...your will is supreme"... and then it hit me- By using birth control I was telling God that MY will was superior and more perfect than his. Ouch.

I never intended to set my will above God's. Quite the contrary, I believed that God had given us birth control as Mercy and that we were welcome to use it. Everyone uses condoms! Try as I might, I could not make my act less subordinate. I wasn't going to die if I became pregnant, and though I had a sick child, a pregnancy would neither cure nor kill him. I was trying to control God's blessing- to control God- simply because I did not really want to be pregnant so soon after giving birth. I did not trust God with my life. I put my faith in latex.

The barrier that I thought was placed between my husband and I was really placed between my heart and God. Perhaps those "silly Catholics" were on to something.

Christians, Birth Control, and Abortion

Have you used birth control in your Christian life to prevent pregnancy?

I have. I'm willing to bet every married women in my "non-denominational" church has as well. We're either the least fertile people on the planet, or we've bought into the worldly view of family planning.

Does your pastor talk about birth control on the pulpit? Has he ever?

Neither has mine, though he does talk about abortion.

What's my point? The body of Christ has accepted birth control. The next post will discuss the reality of contraception within Christianity.

And then she killed her child.

Over at abortionclinicdays, lou has a post about what students want to know when she gives speeches on her "life's work". She gives case studies to these impressionable young lads to show the reality of the aborting women.

one woman, age 25, already raising two children on her own, barely making it. just recently, her mom, her aunt, her uncle died, pretty much wiping out her support system. what she wanted, longed for, was to give life, but felt that she could not do it and raise her two children, so with tears, she put herself in god's hands and prayed for understanding.

And then she killed her child

a younger woman, whom you would never imagine was over a year in recovery from a very serious heavy drug problem. in order to get clean and stay clean, she had to leave her family and friends behind, because all of them are addicts. that was the only life she has ever known but she wants a different life for herself. for her, as for many, abortion is about just that, hopes and dreams for a better life. this particular young woman still needs to go to daily NA meetings and does not feel strong enough to not use in times of stress. she's proud of her recovery but not assuming that she can yet stay clean and sober. what she wants more than anything in the world, is to someday feel confident in her ability to withstand the stresses of pregnancy and parenting, with a strong enough support system that she can have the children she longs for.

And then she killed her child.

After these stories of hope and wonder, Lou explains sending a girl home with a decision packet after realizing that a boyfriend was pressuring the girl to abort. While it's good to see that not everyone passes through the doorway to kill her child, it is disheartening that this pass is only blocked by coercion and not by the horrific fact of the murder that lies on the other side.

Where's Holden?

Where's Holden?



There he is!