The past two weeks I've been enjoying the beauty that is God's creation here in Idaho. I was up in the Sawtooth mountains camping and hiking for a week, then on the lake in McCall for my family's annual waterfest. While in the Sawtooths, camped at the edge of a lake at the base of two magnificent mountains, I discussed with friends the magnificence that must surely await us once creation is released from the burden of sin.

I was moved to tears a couple times by the staggering beauty of those mountains when we were hiking. And to think that everything we see is "groaning" for release...

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. Romans 8:20-22

It's unimaginable trying to figure out how much more magnificent things will look! What a glorious day that will be, for so many reasons, when we and creation are freed from the weight of sin.

Meanwhile, I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things. The news is...interesting as ever. Instead of blasting right into seriousness, I thought I'd share something that caused me to laugh out loud last night. I'm a subscriber of netflix and usually read a couple user reviews before starting a movie I've never heard of. This is by far my favorite review ever:

The description of this movie is a lie. It was written by lying liars with an agenda composed of lies about lies. Rather than millions of people being trapped beneath the earth, there are like 10 people. In one building. It is dumb. If you took dumb itself and purified it using a distilling array you would not get pure enough dumb to describe this horrible horrible movie. Horrible. Simply horrible. And dumb. Composed of stupid dumbness. And lies. If you watch this movie and complain about it I will spit on you for being dumb.

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When I was visiting England a couple years ago I ran across a t-shirt shop in Bath proudly displaying this gem in their window. It reminded me of a comment I'd heard from one of the people involved in making the movie Independence Day -- they said there were so many alien movies coming out because aliens were the only demographic group that didn't have a pack of lawyers ready to sue you for negative stereotyping if you made them the villain.

I'd say that person was mostly correct...altho he neglected to mention the demographic group Hollywood most loves to hate -- those nasty Christians.

Yesterday I read an article about the BBC continuing that grand Hollywood tradition in their new series Bonekickers. The latest episode showed a radical, fundamentalist Christian lopping off the head of a peaceful, law-abiding Muslim. Huh. That sounds so familiar...almost like it's ripped from the headlines. Or not. My favorite quote in the article is this:

"A Martian watching TV drama of late would probably conclude that the country is crawling with homicidal Islamophobes, desperate to kill those few Muslims who have not already been interned by the government or shot by the police." 

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For many months now, I've considered the news I read and watch on television to be adhering very strictly to the motto: All Bad News, All The Time. Seems like everyone in America can't afford to buy gas, is on the verge of starving and one week away from having their mortgage foreclosed on them. The first 15 seconds of 80% of the stories on our nightly news here in Idaho begin something like this: "With gas prices at an all time high and food prices soaring, blah blah blah bad news."

It aggravates me so much, I have to admit, that I'm consuming less and less news. I've been known to storm out of the room until the news is over, or yell at the TV on rare occasions: "If you'd just quit saying everything's so bad, maybe people wouldn't be so terrified and they'd start spending money again!"

That's probably why I found the words of one of McCain's advisors this week so refreshing. He was quoted as saying we're in a "mental depression" and that America is a "nation of whiners." Forget McCain, I'd like to vote for this guy!

For years I've said, if I were President, that I'd make all teenagers go live in a third-world country for a year before they graduated high school. I've been irritated to the core by the lack of, well, reality in the minds of most teenagers who whine when their parents won't buy them a new $150 pair of jeans every week. So you can imagine how sick to death I am of the whining of my fellow Americans about the cost of rice at the local Wal-Mart when they're still chugging down $5 lattes at a record pace and movie theaters are still churning out popcorn by the boatload.

If the news media can be trusted to the slightest degree, we really are a nation of whiners with no -- absolutely no -- international perspective. Do you realize that if you have a bank account, regardless of the amount that's in there, you're wealthier than 90% of the world? Do you know how many millions, no hundreds of millions, of individuals are living on this planet without the things we consider basic necessities -- clean water, comfortable bed, more than one pair of pants? And we're throwing a national hissy fit because the price of good, clean, healthy milk that we didn't have to put a smidge of effort into producing costs 30% more than last year, that is, if you don't print out a $1 off coupon from your personal computer/printer in the comfort of your own air-conditioned, internet-enabled home before driving to the store, no doubt by yourself or with only your family, in your comfortable running-most-of-the-time automobile on well-maintained roads with street lights and friendly police officers making sure you're safe and an entire medical system on hold to whisk you away and fix you for free if you can't afford it and if your kids are screaming after the milk run you can pull through the drive thru and pick up more clean, pre-prepared food that you did nothing to produce before stopping off at the air-conditioned gym where your kids are entertained while you chug away on the treadmill, sipping from your clean bottle of water while listening to your favorite music on an iPod and reading close captions on a wide variety of television stations blaring about how rotten our standard of living is.

What we need in America is just a little bit of perspective. That's the point I imagine ol' whatshisname was trying to get across, but unfortunately the McCain camp has already thrown him under the bus... I guess I won't get the chance to vote for him after all.

Meanwhile, I ran across a site that made my heart swell today. Three cheers for Fox News and their new campaign: Real American Stories. If you're tired of all the woe-is-us stories, in frequency matched only by America-is-horrible stories in the mainstream media, check out this site and remember for a few minutes why you live in the greatest country in the world.

Posted by authorjodi at 02:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Quickly:

A plan is being discussed by lawmakers in Iran that would require the death penalty for anyone who leaves Islam for Christianity or someone who promotes such a conversion even on the Internet, according to a new report from Compass Direct News. 

More. 

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Some articles I've found interesting in the past week:

• "Toddlers who dislike spicy foods racist." Yes, if your British 3-year-old says "yuk" when offered a bit of internationally unfamiliar food, you might have a racist on your hands and intervention is called for.

• Learning about other religions and cultures is one thing, but when directed to pray to Allah in a UK public school, two seventh-grade boys refused. Too bad for them and their individual religious rights rebelliousness...they got detention.

• A new "secret" British report on the international food shortage lays the blame squarely on the quest for biofuels <not unlike my ethanol arrogance post last week>. My favorite part of the story? They say the report is still an unpublished "secret" because they don't want to embarass President Bush. Get real.

• Related to the above, I read a very entertaining article about global warming from an Australian perspective. The reporter lambasted some of his own government officials for trying to impose multi-million dollar changes to reduce CO2 emissions when their output is negligible compared to that of China and India. The officials even admit the effect would be negligible, they merely want to spend the money so they can basically try to lead by example and hope those two countries will "follow our sacrifice by cutting their throats, too." China said "our efforts to fight climate change must not come at the expense of economic growth." India "would rather save its people from poverty than global warming, and would not cut growth to cut gases." In addition, India actually did a little research to conclude man-made global warming is a hoax. Now where have I heard that before?

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Last night my parents and I were watching a movie when the power went out. Not completely surprising since it was our first 100+ weekend and air conditioners all over town were gasping from the strain. My first thought was of a book I read a couple weeks ago where the power goes out worldwide and people are forced to start over from scratch. Quite quickly I checked my watch and cell phone to make sure fiction wasn't becoming reality. ;)

We ended up playing pinochle by candlelight and headlamp and had quite a few laughs before the power kicked back on an hour later. What a different world it is with electricity! I remember standing around the desert in Senegal when our car ran out of gas, surrounded by complete black stillness...

Saw a great cartoon as I read the funnies yesterday before church -- it reminded me that a couple months ago I was watching an 80's movie <courtesy of Netflix> and was astonished to hear the enviromental pitch that manmade global cooling was going to bring about a new ice age. We humans must be mighty powerful, only 20 years later we've now made it too hot to survive. Check out the cartoon here.

And I just saw the trailer for the new movie from the folks that brought us Facing the Giants. Looks pretty good:

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I'm not sure which is the bigger irritation -- junk mail or forwards. Unfortunately my spam filter isn't 100% perfect, so every once in awhile I have to scan through my junk mail folder with one eye closed trying not to see the profane subject lines. I've been getting loads of Nigerian bank scams lately, but this morning I got a new one that actually made me sorta mad. I know I shouldn't invest emotional energy in scammers, but is nothing sacred anymore?

Dear Beloved in Christ,
 
It is by the grace of God that I received Christ in my life, knowing the truth and the truth have set me free, having known the truth; I had no choice than to do what is lawful and right in the sight of God for eternal life and in the sight of man for witness of God & his mercies and glory upon my life.
I am Mrs.Edwards the wife of Mr. Spelling Edwards, my husband worked with the Chevron Texaco in Egypt for twenty years before he died in the year 2002.We were married for ten years without a child. My Husband died after a brief illness that lasted for only four days. Before his death we were both born again Christians.
Since his death I decided not to re-marry or get a child outside my matrimonial home which the Bible is against. When my late husband was alive he deposited the sum of ($6, 000, 000,00) with a Bank in Nigeria. Presently, this money is still with the Bank and the management just wrote me as the beneficiary to come forward to sign for the release of this money or rather issue a letter of authorization to somebody to receive it on my behalf if I can not come over.
Presently, I'm in a hospital in Ghana where I have been undergoing treatment for esophageal cancer. I have since lost my ability to talk and my doctors have told me that I have only a few weeks to live. It is my last wish to see this money distributed to charity organizations anywhere in the World. Because relatives and friends have plundered so much of my wealth since my illness, I cannot live with the agony of entrusting this huge responsibility to any of them.
Please, I beg you in the name of God to help me Stand and collect the Funds from the Bank and as soon as the fund enter your account take 30% of the total money, while 70% will be for work of God.
I want a person that is God fearing that will use this money to fund churches, orphanages and widows propagating the word of God and to ensure that the house of God is maintained. The Bible made us to understand that blessed is the hand that giveth. I took this decision because I don't have any child that will inherit this money and my husband's relatives are not Christians and I don't want my husband's hard earned money to be misused by unbelievers. I don't want a situation where this money will be used in an ungodly manner. Hence the reason for taking this bold decision. I am not afraid of death hence I know where I am going. I know that I am going to be in the bosom of the Lord. Exodus {14 VS14} says that the lord will fight my case and I shall hold my peace. I don't need any telephone communication in this regard because of my soundless voice and presence of my husband's relatives around me always. I don't want them to kn! ow about this ! d evelopment. W it
As soon as I receive your reply I shall give you the contact to the Bank in Nigeria where the money is been deposited. I will also issue you a letter of authority and deposited certificate of claim that will prove you as the new beneficiary of this fund.
Psalm 23
Your in Christ,
Mrs.Edwards

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