SelahV Today by hariette petersen

I Finally Bought a New Laptop

My ACER laptop was hacked.

The hacker attached a keystroke monitor that actually breached my password box so I couldn't even change that. It was so infected with viruses, I wouldn't use it even if I had it bleached and refurbished. 

Why do people hack little old ladies' computers?

What joy do they get from annoying us and keeping us from sharing photos with family, and chatting with friends? My computer is my connection with the outside world. Most of my world consists of sitting in my recliner and watching HGTV, and reading Websites. I don't play computer games.

After several months of not having a computer, my husband did the legwork of finding an affordable DELL with a Solid State processor. So, one Saturday, I didn't bother with make-up, I pinned up my hair and went to Staples with him to check it out. Our sales clerk, Andre, was wonderful. He didn't make me nervous or treat me like I was an ignorant little old lady. So, we purchased it.

Della (that's my name for her), sat next to my chair for several days waiting for me to conjure up the energy to figure out how to work it. Still learning. How many updates does a computer need before it's operable?

I paid extra for setup so I could open it and it would be good to go. Gee. I've tried six times to change the clock so it gives the right time of day. No luck. I gave up. If I don't give up after several tries, my heart rate will triple its pace. Not fun.

Anxiety comes easy these days. Most anything triggers an episode of paralyzing angst. When it comes, I just stop. I huddle in my recliner and turn on Sirius Escape. I listen to instrumental music to regain peace and calm. Most likely explanation? my pain meds. My doctor keeps changing them (another story). Then, again, it could be my hermit isolation from society (story for another time).

Today I felt the strength and courage to write a post.

This is it.

Maybe later I'll tackle something with more meat. ~selahV

I Know What I Believe, Do You? by hariette petersen

I recently posted the link to an article on Twitter with which I agreed.  It brought criticism, not for the content, but for the source of the article.  Nothing other than that for the criticism.  And truly; I understand that critic's reasoning.  There are some sources that I don't even bother reading or listening to because I know I cannot trust them.  They've proved themselves unworthy of my trust.  However, when an article comes across the net and there are other articles, and even individuals, who can confirm the truth of the article, it behooves me to heed the facts of the matter.  Even a person I disagree with, at times, can be right on the facts. 

I got into a conversation yesterday with a person who said they'd rather burn in hell than to live in heaven with Christians.  That, my friends, was a horrific picture in my mind.  Even the people I find abhorrent in my life, those who have hurt me beyond all measure of hurt, would be welcome in heaven with me.  I say this because when we are in heaven, we are at peace with all.  The Lord promises that there is no more sorrow, no more pain, no more darkness, no more hate.  So to have any individual who may "hate" me on earth end up in heaven means that the individual has changed, been transformed, by the power of the blood-- by their own repentance and acceptance of the Savior, Jesus Christ.

If there is anything I know, I know that people can be changed and transformed by their relationship with Jesus Christ.  I know this because there is no other reason for how some I know have changed.  None but Jesus.  His presence in their lives, and mine, has been the catalyst and the process by which they've gone from darkness, evil and selfishness to light, righteousness, and generosity.  I've been there.  I've walked in total and complete darkness and dallied with the evils of this world.  I've been laughed at, rejected and ridiculed for the changes I've made in my life through Jesus Christ.  And it's okay.  It's okay today that people laugh and scoff and try to provoke me to wrath.  It's perfectly okay. 

"For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day." 2 Timothy 1:13

For some reason, the most hateful and vile comments can be found on the internet when a person voices an opinion about their faith, their religion, their consciences.  It's the way of the world.

The key in dealing with these vitriolic comments is to be calm and to set yourself apart from the comment and the commenter.  The slam, though admittedly directed at you, is not really meant for you if you are a believer-- its target is Jesus.  It is said to hurt you, but you are protected by the blood of Jesus-- the power of His victory, the shield of your faith in Him.  He has already won the war.  He is the victor.  Christians are just standing in faith, in the gap, waiting.  We're waiting to see the Eastern sky part-- to join our Savior.  The best part about it, is nothing can separate us from His love.  We don't have to prove anything.  We don't have to convince anyone.  We are simply to tell of His great love-- His great deliverance-- His great hope.  If that message is rejected or trashed by the vile haters of this world, it is not our problem.  The problem falls upon that person's own decision to reject the message of we the messengers. Our only responsibility is to represent the Lord as best we can-- without hate, without anger, without venom, without arrogance. 

Ours is to yield to the Holy Spirit of God and pray for his continued fruit to pour forth from us.  Lord, how I fail at that with a testy attitude and irritated spirit at times. Who'd want to join me at the Lord's table with an attitude like that?  Hmmmmn.

We can invite the unbelievers to the table of the Lord, but they have every right and free choice to reject our invitation.  For me, I'll keep inviting, until an individual tells me to go away.  And I will.  I will kick the dust from my feet and move on.  Discouragement only settles upon those who allow it.  Press on, my friends.  Press on to the prize set before you.

 

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Twitter's 140 Character Mindset Won't Fix This Mess in America

But there is a message that can.

Millions upon millions tweet everything from surly snarks to amiable epithets, all in hopes of gaining something in life.  Not sure what folks are truly seeking. Following? Notoriety?  Status? It may be as simple as an audience to support their own thoughts.

It may reach farther into the human psyche than this simple blogger can discern, but...

I think it illustrates the depth of our loneliness-- the desperate abyss of our souls.  Such need there is to connect to life beyond ourselves, don't you think? 

Truly touching are some tweets that parade across the Twitter feeds each day.

The tweet encourages soldiers in foreign countries and lets them know they aren't forgotten by their countrymen. To worn spirits, a well-chosen phrase is like apples of gold for their hearts.  To embattled citizens who seek strength when the world seems against them like the Romeike family, the Seattle bakers, the mother who lost a son in Benghazi and receives no answers.  Tweeters take up the cause.

Twitter's fascinating.  It's an explosion of genius to say something brilliant in 140 characters and have dozens or more people retweet the profundity of our hearts, minds, and yes-- egos. 

Opinions abound.  Check in on anyone's Twitter feed and you'll soon see how to solve the situation with Putin in the Ukraine, fix the American Educational System, defund Obamacare and get rid or Piers Morgan.  You'll meet Patriots and Traitors, Trolls and Moles-- you'll find hatred, camaraderie, enemies and alliances. 

This, my friends, is our world.  Follow me!

Twitter is a snapshot of all that's good and evil in our world.  There are encouragers and discouragers, slayers and naysayers, critics and judges.  There are wits and whiners and powerful designers.  There are framers and founders and wisdom expounders.  And it's absolutely scary to think so much influence can be given in reading the tweet which is not even considered a coherent sentence.

But there it is.

Communication in nano-seconds.  From Bejing to Podunk Hollow, Tennessee. From D.C. to Vegas.  From Wasillah, Alaska to Moscow.  Links upon links, connections and reflections.  Extractions and retractions.  Diversions and perversions. The stream is boundless-- the ripples ever-changing, as the simple confound the wise.

Can we ever rise above such miniscule thinking--away from the sound-bite evaluations? Can we find our way back to a world of contemplation, understanding, and personal introspection?  Or are we beyond grasping the art of comprehension and communication?  Are we ruined?  Spoiled?  Can we not see ourselves?

Sometimes I wonder what a world like this will be ten years down the road.  Will we cease to speak at all?  Will we be one long continuum of letters, numbers dots and symbols?

Will we lump ourselves inside a #hashtag and forever brand ourselves by labels?  It's collected, you know?  Our words and conversations-- if you can call them that-- are stored forevermore in posterity. 

It reminds me of a Scripture verse wherein the Lord warns of judgment day-- a day of accounting.  In that day we will answer for every idle word we've uttered and every mindless thing we've done.  What will my portion be at that moment? 

I have but one thing worth saying at all.  God came to earth one day; He lived among man to show mankind how the Father loved us and how the Father wanted us to love one another.  Then He died on a cross to pay the penalty for all our devious, deceitful, prideful, debaucherous, licentious, perverse, hateful and rebellious schemes against His holiness.  He knew we couldn't live up to His holiness. He knew.  So He gave the sacrifice of His only begotten Son to pay the fine for our sin. Our get-out-of-jail-free card. Jesus died, then rose again to life and conquered the grave.  He did that for you. 

Eternity will be spent with Him or without Him.  Surely we'd rather spend eternity in peace than in everlasting hell, wouldn't we?

Won't you trust in Him today?  Before it's too late to believe?  He promises that all who come to Him in faith believing, He is faithful and just to forgive you of all unrighteousness.  All.  As in every single thing you've ever done against the Holy Creator.  Now that's worth tweeting, any day of the week.

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Religious Liberty: the Real Issue, and the Battle for Christian Bloggers Like Me

It's not easy to discern the battles worth fighting sometimes.

After I wrote my post last week entitled, Should Jesus Be None Of My Business, I was cautioned by a commenter that quoting someone is "risky" and could lead to "gossip". Suffice it to say, when bloggers write, bloggers battle all kinds of things.  Some worthy, some not.

The conversation that sparked my critic's comment involves a column in USA Today written by Kirsten Powers in which she quoted Andy Stanley advising a Christian baker: "Jesus died for a world with which he didn't see eye to eye. If a bakery doesn't want to sell its products to a gay couple, it's their business. Literally. But leave Jesus out of it."

I beg to differ. This is not some obscure philosophical, political debate; it's a genuine spiritual dilemma for all Christians.  It pierces the core of an individual's conscience and targets the personal freedoms this country holds dear.

The "real issue" is Religious Liberty.

Yes.  Religious liberty.  For those who are unconcerned about such liberty, I suppose they could "leave Jesus out of it" all.  For Christians who have valued, and until lately, felt free to express and practice their faith without fear of retaliation from society and punishment from government, this is crucial.

This is about religious discrimination, not homophobic bigotry.  Never, in all 65 years I've lived have I seen such intimidating cultural disdain for Christians and people of faith in America.  Ridicule, silencing, rejection, and censoring.  Schools, media and government. This is real.  It's not our imagination.  Businesses, and citizens alike, are feeling the pressures and the strident straps of retaliation.  We do not live in some third world country.  This is the United States of America.

Yet, our country is changing at break-neck pace; we can barely keep up with the issues being thrown in our faces. As President Obama promised in 2008, he is  "fundamentally transforming America". Religious liberty in America is in peril--especially for Christians.

Just yesterday, a story broke regarding two Muslim truck drivers who didn't want to deliver alcohol for their employer because it is against their religion. The government defended them against the trucking company. The trucking company is sued and must compensate them with back pay and who knows what all else before this is over.  Yet, a self-employed Christian baker cannot make a personal religious decision to refuse to bake a cake for a wedding they believe violates their religion?  Where is the equality?

To own a business without freedom to provide services as a conscience demands, is tantamount to being shackled to a government's dictates and consequences.  A Christian photographer, who refused to use god-given gifts and talents to photograph a gay nuptial, was fined 7-thousand dollars.  Should that Christian photographer be forced to photograph a porn-star's portfolio, also?  Should an African-American Christian baker be forced to bake a cake that has a black man hanging from a tree to celebrate a KKK rally protesting Martin Luther King Day?

The Seattle Christian bakers are not forcing their view upon the gay couple who demands a wedding cake-- they are upholding their belief in a biblical view of marriage.  They refuse to serve mammon by sanctioning an act they view in conflict with deeply held faith beliefs.  They're exercising their guaranteed right to practice their faith as they see fit. Would they be forced to bake Halloween cupcakes for Satanists, too?  Where does is stop?

Violating their right to practice their heart-felt faith, rapes the conscience of man. The government usurped their conscience, destroyed their business, and impaired their right to make a living.  How many more businesses will this effect?  Will they have to add mal-practice insurance to their already strapped operating budgets in order to protect their religious liberty and conscience?

There is a message being sent by the liberal courts of this land today-- religious liberty is either extremely costly--or worthless.

Make no mistake, here. Either Christian business owners acquiesce and submit, or they are punished for holding their beliefs.

If government can force us to serve others in a free-enterprise system, then we are not under a free-enterprise system.  We are under a totalitarian regime-- under which the government decides what we do, say and think. If government can dictate that a baker bake a cake, it can dictate that a Christian publisher accept and publish books by atheists and other religions in direct contradiction to their mission in life.  It follows government can force any business to do anything for anyone, or face discrimination penalties.

Have you struggled with where all this is leading?  Will homosexuals progress to a point someday wherein they try to force churches to officiate or host their weddings under threats of discrimination law suits?  Will churches lose tax-exempt status for refusing?  Will they have to cower in upper rooms?  Time will tell.

This threat isn't new, nor is the conversation, but it has reached high-pitch chatter status in the social media, news coverage, and legislative branches of government. It's backed up by a United States Attorney General who tells state attorneys general that they do not have to pay any attention to enforcing laws of the states if they feel it is discriminatory.  Free pass; don't bother.

This is no longer about "letting homosexuals do what they want in the privacy of their own bedrooms," or legalizing their unbiblical unions. It's escalating to legalizing that men be allowed to walk into ladies bathrooms if they feel more like a woman than a man.  They are protected.  Who protects me and my grandchildren in restaurants and movie theaters?  Will businesses have to hire restroom guards?

Friends, our voice is being silenced in a world in need of higher volume.  Fear. Intimidation. Threats of removing income from states which seek to protect Religious Liberty.  He who shouts loudest wins. Business owners are being sued out of existence and jobs being lost as a result.  Patriots intimidated and badgered by the IRS to answer questionaires that ask who they are praying for and what they are praying about.  Do you sense the fear and tension?  I do.

Will all Christians someday be forced by law to withdraw from society as the Amish and Quakers choose to do in order to practice their faith?  Will the internet be closed down to our ponderings on this issue and any other issue the government deems hateful or intolerable for us to discuss? I have little doubt anymore.

Seems anytime any Christian takes an opposing viewpoint on most any issue, they are labeled a bigot of some kind or another.  In Kirsten's column at USA Today she likened the Christians' mindset to Jim Crow lunch-counter racist bigotry. I liken her arguments to that mindset in reverse. It appears it is Christians who are being forced to the back of the bus and out of the business market. And if things don't change, we will soon see religious liberty as a thing of the past. 

When Bloggers Like Me Are Cautioned About Gossip

should we take it seriously? Other bloggers have to speak for themselves.  As for me???

In a previous article I wrote (here), a commenter, Mike, cautioned me about how "risky" quoting someone can be and how it can lead to "gossip". Actually, he didn't like much of what I had to say, at all.  He even assigned an ulterior motive to the purpose of my article.  Unfortunately for my commenter, that part of his critique proved totally false.  In his critique, he included a quote, which he attributed to me, but was actually written by someone else, from another website-- Erick Erickson. It can happen. When folks read a lot of sites covering the same subject, folks can get confused as to what they read and who said what.  That aside...

I do think personal criticisms need to be taken seriously. One-- because it's prudent.  Two-- because I may need to repent and apologize (which is expedient to be done as quickly as possible--like Mike did when I pointed out his error).  Three-- because I may learn something.  In this case, with Mike, I found his caution unfounded.  Rather than let his critique simmer on the back-end of my article, I'm using it for an example to consider as a guide in discerning the value of a critic's criticism and the validity of what I say.

Firstly, we disagreed on premise. "Gossip", to me, is passing on private information about someone with malicious intent. I had no malicious intent, nor do I think Kirsten had any. One author says this about gossip:

"The Hebrew word translated 'gossip' in the Old Testament is defined as 'one who reveals secrets, one who goes about as a talebearer or scandal-monger.' A gossiper is a person who has privileged information about people and proceeds to reveal that information to those who have no business knowing it." [To read more on gossip, go here/link]

So, did I really gossip about Andy Stanley? did Kirsten Powers? I don't think so, the information I had was not privileged, nor private. It was public knowledge.  Also, Kirsten Powers is a well-respected journalist and popular news analyst. It's  presumptuous to consider she'd attribute a private personal quote to someone that is not hers to reveal or was not freely given--she's a credible writer.  Journalists protect sources--they don't expose them.  She went to Andy in an interview situation to acquire his opinion.  He gave it.  She quoted it to reinforce her position on what she deems homosexual discrimination, albeit others, including I, see as a religious discrimination issue. So, given how many people have written about Andy Stanley's quote to Kirsten, I felt quite safe in re-quoting it after I found it at the source of her own article/here.

Given the ripple of public scrutiny and troubling confusion created, a retraction would be in order if it weren't true. To my knowledge, Andy hasn't requested one, nor has he walked back the statement.

Anyone can say something they wish they hadn't (Mike regrets his mistake with me). I'm a bit snarky at times (I'm working on it).  I don't think I erred when I lamented my mental and soulful weariness regarding Christians who try to live as Jesus would want in all areas of life (as in the case of the Seattle bakers), only to have their concerns tossed aside as irrelevant by a brother-in-Christ with prominent status.

Since the issue went beyond that of the bakers in Seattle to the bill in Kansas, which inadvertently coincided with the Arizona law, we must recognize this as a much larger issue in our country.  Even Eric Metaxas, a minister instrumental in Kirsten's recent conversion to Christianity, disagrees with Kirsten and Andy; he said so on his facebook page when Erick Erickson's rebutted Kirsten's views:

"I'm afraid that in this my dear friend Kirsten Powers and pastor Andy Stanley are mistaken. I believe their hearts are absolutely in the right place, which is perhaps the most important thing, but in their ultimately standing aside so that the Religious Freedom of Kansans and other Americans can be disregarded, they are missing something very important, something crucial, and with great ramifications for all. Let our conversations on this subject be civil and respectful, but let's have them."

So, folks, I make no apologies for writing about a subject I find most "crucial" as Metaxas affirms.  As a blogger and a sister-in-Christ, I saw a need to support fellow Christians and defend their position. 

As Christian bloggers grapple with issues of the day, we must engage with caution, in a spirit of grace, but we must not sit silently on the sidelines while religious liberty is crushed beneath the feet of rulers who usurp the constitution and the conscience of man, either.  

So I wrote about the quandry of it all. It was not gossip.  It's a matter of exhortation, similar to what my commenter tried to do with me in his critique and caution.  We learn, we share with one another...then Christians must pray.  We offer apologies, ask forgiveness wherein we err, and move on.  Most importantly, we must look at Scripture and stand on it, and it alone, to make decisions when we speak, think, or write.  For me it's all about Jesus and I won't leave Him out of my conversations. Without Him, I am nothing. ~hariette petersen @SelahVToday

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WHAT IS THE REASON FOR YOUR BLOG?

Someone asked me that several years ago.  I sat there thinking-- you've been reading my blog for months; what kind of question is that? 

I thought some more.  It made me question myself.  All of a sudden I was staring at that email. I wondered.  Exactly, what is the purpose of my blog?

I chuckled to myself. I had no idea what I was suppose to do with a blog when I started it. The first time I heard the term "blog" was when I heard on television that Rosie O'Donnell was saying mean stuff about someone "on her blog" because of something she'd read on someone else's "blog".

When I began mine, I just liked to write and it took on a life of its own.  

Some folks have political blogs--opinion blogs like Charles Krauthammer and Michelle Malkin.  Others produce photography, crafts, cooking and artwork blogs (like The Pioneer Woman).  Still others offer analysis of faith, theology, doctrines, and politics within their denominations, like SBCToday.  Some folks journal.  Some write book reviews.  There are homeschooling blogs and devotional blogs. Some just share daily ditties about themselves. Some blogs are hatchet jobs-- always dumping on individual or another.  Knee-deep in hog slop--wallowing in the mud.  Criticizing, condemning, and spewing junk.

And then there is me.

I am a hodgepodge of almost all of the above. I'm more of a slice-of-life kind of writer-- my life.  I don't like the smell of hogpens.  I don't believe in tabloid blather.  I am not an apologist.  I am not a scholar.  In fact, I know very little, other than what the Lord Himself reveals to me.  I'm a little bit of this and that.  I write what's on my mind and sometimes "what's on my mind" is what I think about when I read other blogs, see on television, or find in a newspaper. Sometimes an email sparks an idea.

I wish I could zero in on one particular thing (devotional writing is the closest I come), but I am simply too eclectic to settle on one thing.  I get bored.  I need diversity. 

However...

                no matter how diverse I am, I pray I see all things through the filter of the One who brings meaning to it all.  Nothing I write about is worth reading if the LORD doesn't have a fingerprint upon it.  Nothing.

Sometimes I feel serious, other times silly.  Sometimes I feel happy, other times  sad.  Some days I go on a tangent, some days a rant.  Some days I brag about my grandchildren; some days I rattle on and on about nothing in particular (Bill O'Reilly calls that bloviating).  I drink decaf coffee and I journal, confess, and I also show you crafts I make with the grand-kids (though I usually put that on another blog which you can find in the sidebar). 

Life is such a glorious thing.  So filled with splendor, mystery and joy.  There is courage; there is determination.  There is tragedy, and there are miracles.  Most of all, there is perseverance--and grace to meet each difficulty.  So folks, that's what my blog is about. It's what I wrote in my banner above:

"Every single moment.. in any given day is significant.  What we do with each moment...what we say in each moment, adds light or darkness to another's life.  Any given action, reaction or inaction is time-capsuled into the Mind of God to be rewarded or burned away."

It's my hope that you find something you can count significant here each day.  If not, check back tomorrow. Until then...

What about you?  What is the reason for your blog? If you don't blog, then why not?  selahV

Our Government Could Learn From This

"Professionals may have built the Titanic, and an amateur the Ark. This proves the Architect is really important."~~Netminister

I believe our country needs a founders' refresher course on building a successful government which cares for the people rather than their positions within the system of government. Unfortunately, this country has allowed too many ungodly people to dictate what the citizens must believe and then proceed to make laws to circumvent the Constitution.  They're building, but without consulting the original plans.  They rejected the architects' design for America--architects who trusted God, believed in Jesus and never sought to eliminate Him from life-- but to protect citizens from tyrannical government which would limit the ability of citizens to follow their faith.

America has strayed so far from the original intent of our founding fathers, it's no wonder we now fall far, far short of the blessings our country orignally enjoyed.

"...Unless the LORD builds the house,

They labor in vain who build it;

Unless the LORD guards the city,

The watchman keeps awake in vain.;..." Ps.127:1

We've forgotten how to teach children and bring them up in the admonition of the LORD via the Ten Commandments and instruction in the Word of God. Thus, our country is floundering. As a child, those commandments were constant reminders to me and other children to obey our parents, show respect to others, and live with a moral compass.  Our colleges and universities were founded on the Word of God and the Savior Jesus Christ. Today those same institutions cover symbols of faith and tear them down altogether. They ignore their founders' words and reject the mention of God in any positive light. The same advocates who speak out against bullying and discrimination, bully Christians to be silent and discriminate against them when they use the word of God in a speech or the name of Jesus in a prayer.

I'm not blowing smoke here, friends. This isn't some conservative Christian right-wing blathering.  Check out what Noah Webster, Schoolmaster of the Republic said:

"Education is useless without the Bible. The Bible was the textbook in all fields. God's Word, contained in the Bible, has furnished all necessary rules to direct our conduct."~ Noah Webster/ref.link

Webster was certain of the need for children to be educated with Bible in hand. Yes, that's right. In early times, the Bible was actually the textbook used to teach reading.  Webster believed "the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed...".  Can you imagine if a leader in our government were to challenge our Department of Education with that view? Webster further believed, "No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people."
  ~~Noah Webster, Preface Noah Webster Dictionary, 1828

Thus, when today, we do all the building of our country (producing legislations and regulations), and remove all reference to God, we are rejecting the builder-- the "Architect". 

We can labor all we want; we labor in vain.

We can push God out of everything from school, to government, to symbols of our faith in the Creator, and every traditional oath ever sworn to if we want.  However, when we do, we must also realize we will suffer the consequences of letting our guard down with the evil in this world.  We cannot protect ourselves from evil without God.  Reject Him and He will turn us over to our own devices and choices.

Purpose, Plan and Discovery

"In almost everything that touches our everyday life on earth, God is pleased when we're pleased. He wills that we be as free as birds to soar and sing our maker's praise without anxiety."~A.W. Tozer

Okay.  I think I've got this. I have a purpose and the only thing on my writing agenda this year is to meet new folks God brings across my pathway via internet or real life touchy-feeling five-sense happenstances. Take all those and write about them according to how God predestines the consequences of the choices I make in follow-through, avoidance, or neglect.  Then feel free to be me and be happy because when I am happy, God is happy. That is (and this is a slight difference of opinion between me and Tozer), unless what pleases me is totally out of sync with God's pleasure. Then...

ain't nobody gonna be pleased.  That's a fact.  And I can fly to whatever heights I want but if I fail to recognize the everyday touches of God in every situation... I'm gonna get my wings clipped.  Then, I'm gonna need time-out in the prayer closet or a Xanax for sure.

 "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you." Matthew 6:33

I've had an interesting day. Tweeting. Facebooking. A trip to Red Lobster where I held open the bathroom door for a little old man who'd obviously had a stroke and couldn't get into the men's room because the door was so heavy he could barely inch his way through while trying to hold the door ajar.  I used my cane to push it open so he could pass through. Afterwards I returned to the table and had my husband go back and check on the little old man so he could get out of the restroom.  One good "happenstance" of the day. We also made a quick stop at Lowe's to purchase a hundred lightbulbs that the government is banning in the U.S.A.  Had some very interesting followers on Twitter... got some good advice about writing. And well, this is a teensy part of where I'm ending my day. I didn't follow all of David Swindle's points for getting this post on the screen, however, tomorrow I'm buying me a new journal and a shiny set of colored markers. Then I'm going to go back and copy down David's ten rules and try and see how many I can master by the end of the month. Who knows?  I could end up with a book by the end of 2014?  All that aside, I do know one thing: I can say without one doubt, I am singing my Maker's praise without anxiety.  Should sleep well tonight. Hope you do, too. selahV by hariette petersen

NOTE--TO ALL MY WRITER & WANNABE WRITER FRIENDS OUT THERE: Loved this article by David Swindle, Associate Editor at PJMedia. You'll like it too if you want to get serious about writing. I learned a bunch of stuff from his piece as he spliced and diced it on his Twitter account/link.  Worth following there, too.  Believe me.

One Victor Among Many

Sometimes I consider my frailties and focus on the difficulty I have when trying to simply walk to the bathroom, or open a pickle jar--things I've always taken for granted. It's then I consider the true victors in daily struggles who face their inadequacies with triumph and fortitude.  I think of Elias Brown and the Edmund Endeavor Games--and all those like him. Elias inspires me to have greater courage, to face my day with deeper resolve-- to look beyond my struggles. To focus on what I have rather than what I lack.

I have a friend who has lost faith in the God who reigns victorious over all circumstance and difficulty.  He has met such financial defeat in his life he can no longer see the power of the Omnipotent God.  May I never face such desolation.  May you never face such discouragement and defeat.  I've talked.  I've written.  I've messaged everything I know to message.  I've prayed and interceded.  In a sense, I, too, could say I've failed.  Yet, I do not see my relationship with him, and all I've said to him, as a failure. 

I see his faith-loss as something beyond my ability to help. I cannot be his crutch, his refuge, nor the solace he needs. I cannot fix his situation. Only Christ can meet his need.  Sadly, he succumbs to the waves of fear and circumstance.  He sees only the giants in his vision and is unable to see God's deliverance apart from his own understanding of what that deliverance looks like.  His temporal discomfort has superceded his knowledge of a God who keeps him no matter what befalls him. He cannot trust because his trust is in his desires for something better than the state in which he finds himself.

Ever felt like him?  I've faced similar defeat--however, not quite with the intensity that seems to have befallen my friend. I've had times when I felt abandoned. Forsaken. Yet, even in those times when I listened to the lies Satan whispered in my ears, I could not totally let go of the truth--  the truth that God is always with me.  God never fails me.

The world fails me. The world is not always with me. The world is my enemy and the prince of this world seeks to keep me in darkness and confusion.  That prince seeks to toss me to and fro and infiltrate my mind through the crevices of faithlessness, and insecurity, and pride.  That prince wiggles his way into my life when I am sick, broken and focused on myself-- my plight, my inadequacies, my stupidity, my regrets, my mistakes. Rather than trust in the Savior who has overcome the world, I relinquish that trust to a distrustful evil being who is hell-bent on destroying the peace that passes all understanding. 

He keeps me focused on what I cannot do, rather than what I can do and what God has done and continues to do.  When I find myself in situations which zap my faith and sap my energy, God always brings to mind those victors who've gone before me--like Moses, Peter and Paul.  God impresses upon my mind those victors who still surround me.

I consider people like Pastor Saeed Abedini who sits in the most disgusting and brutal Iranian prison without any comfort or caring.  Bro. Saeed is an American who refuses to denounce his faith in Jesus Christ.  That's all he'd have to do to get away from the daily torture and mal-treatment of hatefilled guards and adversaries.  But Saeed is a victor.  He stands against his enemy and refuses to denounce God. Saeed is one among other victors who speak out for their faith in Christ.

How small I am when I count my victories as ignoring insults, or rising above a person's neglect, or rejection of my opinion.  How very small.  May God continue to give me strength to be content with or without-- to stand where others fall, to exercise faith where others falter.  May I always remember when life is tough that there are others with far greater trials.  I pray for those like my friend, for Elias and Pastor Saeed.  I pray for those who encourage them--for they are mighty victors, too. May they endure and be comforted in God's power and grace.  selahvtoday by hariette petersen 

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is only as possible as we define victor.

To some, "to the victor goes the spoils".  It's a war in which we become victorious over another person--an enemy who seeks to destroy us.  However, that's not exactly the kind of victor I am interested in being.  To do whatever it takes to win?  To ignore that which is pure and holy and godly to end up with all the goodies via whatever means it takes to obtain them?  No. That doesn't mean you are a victor.  That just means you are the most deceptive manipulative bully. In that sense, a victor gains the "spoils"-- the enemy's treasures and belongings.  The victor assumes possession of the enemy's material gains. I don't want my enemy's spoils.

My enemy is Satan. Anything he has is not worth owning.  Satan is everything that is ungodly--he is the opposite of God. Why would I want to have anything he has?  In fact, the Lord instructs me to resist him so that he flees. To put on the whole armor of God so that I may "stand"-- to plant my feet in the solidity of God's grace and salvation-- and not waver wherein Satan and his minions seek to devour me.

"The Lord’s slave must not quarrel, but must be gentle to everyone, able to teach, and patient, instructing his opponents with gentleness. Perhaps God will grant them repentance leading them to the knowledge of the truth. Then they may come to their senses and escape the Devil’s trap, having been captured by him [Jesus] to do his will." 2 Timothy 2:24-26

It's important to realize as I tweet on Twitter and toss my sarcastic barbs that what I say must align with God's instruction. All too often I allow my flesh to control my fingertips as I respond to various folks and agree with some who see things the way I see things. I cannot be a victor if I walk outside of God's pleasure and instructions and mingle with those who seek to live for position and power outside of God's divine plan and purpose. 

I wholeheartedly believe I am living in the last days as prophesied in God's Word:

"But know this: Difficult times will come in the last days.  For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good,  traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to the form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid these people!" 2 Timothy 3:1-5

How does one avoid these people?  How can we avoid them when they are at every turn in our lives?  When every program we watch on television has their influence in every commercial, every news report, every sitcom and every reality show?  when every social media we join has their "voice" and intrusion? When every magazine screams at us with headlines as we check out at the grocers?

Well, for me, I think it is to avoid entering the fray of their conversations. To avoid walking where they walk.  To avoid listening to their music, their entertainment, the diatribes on their networks with their analysts and slanted reporting. To refuse to attend ther movies and support their lifestyles and ability to spread their poison in my life. I've come to see that playing on their playground can lead to throwing dirt and kicking sand.  To be a victor in this time of history, I must climb to higher ground.  I must stand on the Rock where my refuge is above the world.

And yes.  I will run into many of those Timothy warns me to avoid on my journey. You will, too.  The key in being a victor among them is to avoid their "kind" of conversations and speak up when necessary. If they do not hear my voice and become hostile, I kick the dust from my feet and move on. When necessary, I delete, unfriend, and block.  I pray for the scales to be removed from their eyes. Then I share the "good news".  Speak goodness with kindness and love.  I must refuse to tolerate the intolerable.  I cannot accept their arguments as instructions to preserve some politically correct position.  I will refuse to fall for their accusations of hatred in the face of truth.

Above all, I cannot let them define or redefine God's Word from society's flawed understanding or culturally acceptable opinion. A victor is only victorious who rests solely upon God and His unchanging Word--regardless of world opinion and attack. He alone is our resource and refuge.~~ selahVtoday by hariette petersen

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The Duck Dynasty Debacle and Me

I'm no better than anyone else in this world.  I learned that a long long time ago/link. 

The past few days, I've been caught up in the whirlwind of opinions regarding Duck Dynasty and A&E. I tweeted and retweeted.  I copied and pasted articles and posts (just like millions of other people).  I got followed by several on Twitter and stopped following a few on Twitter. 

However, I do not watch Duck Dynasty on a regular basis. What I have watched, I really think is funny and fun. They exemplify what families should be about-- though they squabble and quibble, they make up and poke fun at one another and reconcile. They love work, one another and God. Though I don't see every episode, I'm tickled pink they've worked hard and built a dynasty from duck calls and ingenuity.

I don't watch anything on television religiously, or faithfully. Life is far more than what goes on inside a 60-in box.  Yet, I disagree with folks who try to decide for me what I should say, read, think, or watch.  My interests vary from babies being aborted to Pastor Saeed's imprisonment, from healthcare to the stripping of COLA pensions for Vets. I tweet about James Rosen's interviews and Megyn Kelly's Santa controversy. I'm not a fanatic follower of everything Ducks--nor a Bill O'Reilly groupie. But I do like to know what people think.

Folks have very interesting takes on the world and I like to hear their take.  Even with those I disagree.  Why do they think the way they think?  Do they disagree with me because I'm just like all those other "thems" in the world they disagree with?  Not sure.  I am me-- I'm not completely like anyone else.  I may have similarities, hold some same opinions, some similar beliefs-- but I do not consist of all of anyone else. I can't see that ever changing--not for me--nor anyone else.

This deal over Phil Robertson has never once angered me. I've simply shared what I thought when I read something someone said. I've held the beliefs I have for a very long time.  And while I totally agree with Phil on the depravity of man, I would never have chosen to express myself as he did about sin. I would have defined it differently. Why?

Because I am me. I express myself differently. That's probably why Phil is on a reality show and I'm just boring little me. Phil is Phil and he bluntly expresses himself as he chooses-- just as you choose to express yourself.  Knowing what little I know about Phil, I can call him a brother in Christ because he seems to believe what I do about Jesus.

Some folks look at the world through a clouded lens-- without the knowledge or understanding of the presence of God in their lives. Some judge every syllable and phrase Christians say through the lens of what they have determined a Christian is, and what all Christians should say or do.  It may or may not be valid, but it is their interpretation; they are entitled to think whatever way they choose, just as I am. The reason Christians can make particular statements about sinners is because we know we are all sinners.  Each of us. We know sin well. We battle it ourselves. But we know we have a Savior who has paid the ultimate price for our sin and became the substitute for our punishment so we could live forever with Him.

Many articles and posts I've read recently have addressed why we think what we think and how we should assign motive and intent to the reasoning behind actions of A&ETV and those defending A&E and those defending Phil Robertson. Those are think pieces-- opinion articles to provoke more thought. Many are written to inflame, to incite, to encourage further debate. Few are written to bring peace or understanding or reconciliation.

I'm not all that interested in "thinking" anymore about the why or how in this debacle.

Of greatest interest to me is the heart of the matter-- as in the heart of the Believer and follower of Jesus Christ.  As in me--my imperfect fleshly self and my part in it all.  In fact, I thought about deleting every single post I had written on facebook and every tweet I'd tweeted on Twitter regarding Duck Dynasty.  I even considered deactivating my Twitter account altogether.

You see, as a Christian, when we allow our minds to supercede our hearts, the Spirit of God begins to check our spirit and poke us in places so we become painfully aware of portions we need to address. In Romans 12:2, it is written:

"be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."

God wants to purify and sanctify us in order that we might be a "light" to Him, not away from Him.  My mind wanted to fluff off what I'd been thinking; my heart wouldn't let me. Words matter. It's important that we're careful choosing our words and being responsible for what we say.

I've been pondering the "us" and "them" in this war of words between A&ETV, Phil Robertson, GLAAD voices, the fans, and Christians who have spoken out about "them" and "us".  Mostly, I'm thinking about the ones in between "us" and "them".  They are the ones who are neither in the whole conversation--they are onlookers.  I wonder, how do they see "us" as we react to "them"?  as we one-up the other in tit-for-tat tweets?

I think about me.

For me, that is worth considering in depth, considering all I've tweeted in the last few days. Mercy is my favorite word next to Jesus-- though how can one say Jesus without simultaneously thinking of the word mercy is beyond me.  He is mercy. I'm glad He has mercy on me and His mercies are new every morning. I need that clean slate. And while He allows sin because we live in a fallen world, He doesn't condone it, nor will He tolerate it (especially in His children)-- even if it is the simple sin of thinking we know more than someone else and must let them know it as well. 

When We Give Him Grief (a bit of a rewrite)

Several years ago, I wrote for a collaborative blog with some ministers in which I posted daily devotionals and scheduled opinion pieces.  That blog is now defunct.  However, I did a google search of my name and the following post popped up (you know how it is, google saves everything).  As I read it, my words hit me in the gut.

Then, in the heart.

Ouch! 

Bear in mind, this was written before Facebook and Twitter hit the cyber waves of space.  So... I thought, maybe you'd benefit from my refresher course on the subject of Damage Control and Grieving the Holy Spirit:

Each time we writers compose a blog-post, we chance it being received, rejected, or simply ignored. Some folks think the success of a post is determined by how many hits the page receives. Others think success is determined by the amount of comments garnered by their carefully worded thoughts. Many bloggers rack their brains for a topic that will accomplish both. Some do not even care how controversial or inflaming their subject matter becomes. They just want folks to read them. Today, I’m not at all concerned about putting together a post to do any of the above. However, I do have a few things that have popped into my mind and wonder if you’d have any thoughts to offer in response.

When do Christians grieve the Holy Spirit? 

Ephesians 4:30 says: “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God [do not offend or vex or sadden Him], by Whom you were sealed (marked, branded as God’s own, secured) for the day of redemption.” Eph. 4:30.

Preceding that verse there is a list of things that are quite offensive to the Holy Spirit: "foul or polluting language, evil words, unwholesome or worthless talk". In fact, it states that our conversation be “only such speech as is good and beneficial to the spiritual progress of others, as is fitting to the need and the occasion, that it may be a blessing and give grace (God’s favor) to those who hear it.” Eph.4:29

Following verse 30 are a group of things which give us a clear idea of what grieves the Holy Spirit of God. “Let all bitterness and indignation and wrath (passion, rage, bad temper) and resentment (anger, animosity) and quarreling (brawling, clamor, contention) and slander be banished from you, with all malice, (spite, ill will, or baseness of any kind).” Eph. 4:31.

Do you think recent posts (of for that matter statuses on Facebook or Twitter) you have read were a blessing to others? Have your comments been “beneficial to the spiritual progress of others”?  (Lord forgive me...no not always.)

“And become useful and helpful and kind to one another, tenderhearted (compassionate, understanding, loving-hearted), forgiving of another [readily and freely], as God in Christ forgave you.” Eph. 4:32

How can Believers who are sealed by the Spirit until the day of redemption continue to participate in blogs, facebook conversations and twitter rants avoid grieving the Holy Spirit as they converse? Any ideas? Personally, I think I've failed miserably of late. selahV

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When Things Go Wrong

we tend to assume the worst.

One would think when you pay 180.00 a year for a website service that it would have some sort of virus protection on it.  You think it could never crash and wipe out all the years of writing I have done.  You think.  However, since no one I know who has Typepad is having the same problem as I am, I have to assume the worst.

A worm has got into my website and eaten my copy.  It gobbles it up as soon as I hit save or publish or place in a draft.  When I go back to my draft to continue working on the post in any one of my blogs, the worm sucks out the words like a vacumn cleaner sucks up crumbs.  So, before I post anything, I have to be doubly sure that it is edited as I want because I cannot come back to it to re-edit the copy.  When I finish anything, I have to publish it right then and there.  And even when I publish it, the only place I have as an original is in a cloud on Typepad's website url.

Those of you who write blogs every day know what I am talking about.  It's not fun.  It's annoying.  And by the looks of things, Typepad is not doing anything about it.  I hope they resolve it soon.  If not, I will probably be moving to another platform and re-writing all my copy from scratch.  I don't dare take the chance that downloading from the settings available to me would not pass the worm into another composer's system.  Alas, alas.  I should have listened to Glenn Beck and backed up all my writing with that company he uses.  Ya never think it is going to happen to you, though.  So, here I am.  At the mercy of cyber-optics and under the attack of some goofball out in blogland.

Can you imagine if this bug were to get into a banking system and eat everyone's deposits, checks and debits?  Or if it got into the IRS it might be a good thing.  Ha ha.  They couldn't charge us taxes.  Or if it got into the medical records and wiped out the procedures you've had or the medicines you are allergic to.  Or if it got into the Pentagon and wiped out all their data.  Of if it wiped out the prison records and released all the criminals.  Or if it wiped out the control systems for flight control patterns.  Or if it wiggled its way into electrical or utility grids and wiped out their mode of operation?  WOW.

When things go wrong, we cannot assume the worst.  The worst can always be worse than we assume.  And then again, it can be better than we think.  God is still on the throne.  Jesus has still overcome the world.  And I am still here peck, peck, pecking out my thoughts.  The thought of all my thoughts being wiped clean actually is appealing in a strange sort of way.  Old thought out, new thought in.  Hmmn...there might be an upside to this mess after all.  selahV

What to Say and When to Say It

Several years ago I wrote a post entitled:  Words Unfit To Print.  I revisted that post recently and felt it was probably a good idea to ponder my own words.  I wonder if there are those who find themselves struggling with what is acceptable to print, but more-so, what a person needs to say while balancing what one should not say.

Of late, I have found that when we are accused of specific things, and are wrongly perceived, our first reaction to diffuse the stick of dynamite placed in our pathway and the paths of others, is one of defense.  We defend ourselves.  We do that in several ways.  We try to pull the fuse that has been lit.  Then we gather others to our side to defend our actions.  Then we go on the offense.  We circumvent what others say by saying things to make ourselves less "guilty-of-charges".

I do believe that blogging can be one of the most destructive things on earth, with the exception of Facebook.  The world has entered a new age with multi-media and social-media.  Things which use to be said in private, dealt with in private, has become completely public.  Much of what we might never have voiced in a face-to-face, is easily squeezed out of the proverbial toothpaste tube with no way to squish it back in.  Many areas of disagreement that were once settled over a cup of coffee, or private sidebar discussion, are now displayed in the living-rooms and office laptops for all the world to witness.

Blogging provides the perfect outlet for an instantaneous "letter-to-the-editor/writer".  That letter then invites the next response.  Admittedly, I have hastily written a few of those myself and been on the receiving end of a response.  Some warranted, some unwarranted.  However, if we are going to jump into any frying pan in life, we must accept the fact that we are liable to get burned in the sizzling fat.  Clearly, the best way to avoid blisters is to stay out of the pan.  In fact, sometimes the pan is so hot, it is best to station oneself far beyond the fryer, or  chance an errant hot oil hitting your hand or popping you in the eye.

So, what is the best thing a person can do?  Stop entering conversations--whether invited or uninvited?  Stop thinking our viewpoint is necessary to a conversation?  Refrain from opining?

Let anyone say anything, write anything?  Stop challenging opinions?  Stop debating issues with others whether or not the issue is germane to us or those we love?  Stop reading blogs?  Let the world do what it wants to do without any input?  Ignore unseemly stuff?  Refuse to wallow with pigs?  Just keep your toes clean and stay away from pig-pens?  Do not hold anyone accountable for their views and actions?  Keep your thoughts to yourself?

Scripture offers muliple instruction on controlling our tongue, our thoughts, our attitude, our spirit.  Several bloggers I know have given some really sage advice on these things through the years.  I have written multiple posts--most of which have received little attention.  When a person is a peacemaker or an encourager, we tend to have less company in the midst of strife, struggle, and sour situations.  That does not mean others are not reading or hearing our words.  Nor does it mean our words of wisdom and admonition return void upon a hearer's or reader's mind.  It just means, we follow what the Lord leads us to say, then leave the fall-out and the consequence of our seed-sowing, watering, and fertilizing to Christ for manifestation of obedience to Him.  I am not the Holy Spirit; I'm merey an ambassador.

I shall not grow weary in well-doing.  I shall not faint in the day of adversity.  I shall choose this day Whom I shall serve.  I shall do all I can to live at peace.  So does the Lord want from me?

"He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" Micah 6:8

"DO justice?  love kindness?  walk humbly with your God?  How does one "do" justice and condone the unjust?  How does one "love" kindness and behave unkindly?  How does one "walk" humbly with God and run proudly with man?  It's quite a balancing act, isn't it?  What is "good" to me, may be totally bad to another.

Search me, O, God and know my thoughts.  Give me discernment in what is wise, what is good, kind and just.  Help me walk in that discernment with humility before You.  selahV

Sunday Afternoon, Kindle Fire, Facebook, and Friends

Dinner has been consumed.  The dishes are clean and put away.  My granddaughters are laughing and squealing as they hide their colored eggs, over and over again outside.  Oklahoma skies are filled with grey un-threatening clouds.  The sun has taken a vacation day. It's a sleepy afternoon.

Hubby is sitting here reading his new birthday-Kindle Fire... well, not really.  He's trying to figure out how to get on Facebook and read my wonderful blogs....hee hee.  I think his interest was piqued since he discovered someone deleted one of my, uh-hmmmn, brilliant, yet, not so politically correct comments on a blog a week or so back.  Hubs has kinda sat in the shadows of my internet connections and watched me flit from place to place talking about all the people I meet on the world-wide-web.

I think until, a fellow blogger from Fort Worth, Texas stumbled into our church sanctuary today and wanted to see me, my hubby thought all this bloggin' stuff was a figment of my virtual imagination.  Now, he sees that people are real, and, that some real men still wear ties and suits on Easter morning!!  Hey, hey, hey!  I must say I was quite honored to have Ron Phillips, Sr. drop in on our church service to meet me while in town visiting his family.  Quite honored.  We took a photo for posterity.  I hope Ron doesn't get a bad reputation, hangin' out with the likes of me.  We talked about a bunch of things, and touched on, my deleted comment.  I had to laugh.  Much ado about so little.  BUT...

Now, hubby wants to know: "So what does it mean if someone deletes your comment?"  Guess I'll have to educate him on the finer points of SBC bloggin' and the dangers of talking to just anyone who wants to call you "friend" on facebook.  Scary world we live in, ya know?

Anyway, it is Sunday afternoon.  Nascar has no races.  So what else can hubby and I do but read books and play with our gadgets (we don't want to find colored eggs).  I'm having fun watching my Bob trying to figure out how some of this internet stuff works. 

He keeps trying to log on to a Facebook account I set up for him a long long time ago.  It wouldn't let him get on.  One time he can get on the web without problems, the next, they are giving him flack...ha ha.  Now, he's just pecking around, trying to find his way around our virtual world.  He's been searching for answers (he's not one to give up easily).  He keeps getting a message that tells him they've lost him.  I'm so glad God never loses sight of him....nor me.

Even though I may follow all the wrong links at times (or get dumped off a few others), God keeps me linked to Him.  I may click all the wrong buttons one day, and say stuff He would rather I didn't, I may forget all the rules and throw caution to the wind at times, and find myself disconnected from my internet server.  But, God stays connected to me...and I to Him...always.  We may forget my husband's password to connect to Facebook, but it doesn't mean we can't connect to our Lord.  We'll figure out a way to make a new password for him on Facebook.  But we always have our password saved to reach God.  His name is Jesus.  What a glorious Easter afternoon it is.  Amen?  selahV

Do YOU Desire to See GOOD Days?

Do you love life?

Do you want to see days where the sun shines and rainbows form from crystals in the rain-blessed sky?

Do you want to see your seeds sprout, your corn grow, the tares controlled, and reap a bountiful harvest of "good" days?

1 Peter 3:10-12 offers some help:

" For whoever desires to love life
              and see good days,
let him keep his tongue from evil
              and his lips from speaking deceit;
let him turn away from evil and do good;
let him seek peace and pursue it.

For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."

I thought about this passage a lot in the last few days.  I wondered when I shared the heartaches I had, the brokenness I felt, the misunderstandings and false perceptions of others toward me.  Does anyone really know what I desire with the words I use?  Is what my tongue utters "evil"?  I wonder this because, when I feel no animosity, nor anger in my heart, nor any ire, nor wish no ill-will against anyone, how are my words "evil"?

I think if I do my best to be as forthright, forthcoming and honest with my words, not hiding behind flattering phrases or pacifying language, is that "speaking from deceit"?  If not, then what must I do to have better days?  Days empty of angry emails, days where the emails do not notify me of canceled subscriptions to my words, days where people are as friendly as the waitress who hopes to gain a tip for serving me.  Days wherein folks I know who hold a different opinion than I, find I have not changed my heart, simply because I share a thought or two from my mind.  Where are those days if my words are not intent on doing the work of Satan in a faith-based community?

Could it be?  Could it be I am in the midst of evil, and darkness and had not seen the forest for the trees of ego-mania and self-centeredness towering over me?  Could it be I am in a meadow filled with thistles, tares and poison ivy?  Perhaps that is it...perhaps the problem rests in turning away from that attractive meadow of brilliant colors, where stately cactus stand ready to prick the life out of me as I pass through.  Perhaps, another path is where I need to turn.  I need to get out of the briar-laced thickets.  I need to get back on the beaten path, one walked by the saints before me, then "seek peace and pursue it".  At all costs.  No matter what seeds are carried and implanted around me.  Then I will find the "good" at the end of each day.  I will find the peace and joy and love by the still waters.  And my heart will overflow with God's grace and love.  Do you desire "good days", too?  Let's see if we can make a few together...okay?  selahV

Yet Another Reason to WEAR CLEAN UNDERWEAR and NOT BURY BLOGPOSTS of VITAL IMPORTANCE in a Sea of Mundane Blatherings by hariette petersen

No.  Unfortunately, this post is not really about mama's sage advice for you to don clean boxers or undergarments, in case you are in an accident and wind up in the emergency room of life.  It is about a court system that makes us wonder about the brain cells of aging Supreme Court Justices and ANY Justice appointed by any president--be they conservative or liberal, with liberal or conservative majorities in the House and Senate of the United States.

Thanks to Marty Duren for calling attention to this obscene ruling and unreasonable logic of the highest court in the land of free-thinking, law-abiding, countrymen who just happen to believe in the 4th Amendment and have read the Bill of Rights when they were school-children.

In what is certainly one of the most grotesque disemboweling of civil liberties since Congress last took a vote, the Supreme Court of the United States has granted unfettered authority to police or jail officials to conduct strip searches on any person arrested for any crime. So, dear reader, the next time you are stopped for a traffic violation by an officer who decides to make you an example, you could find yourself standing naked, exposed and exposing while a police officer or jailer looks you over in a way that would make a nearsighted urologist blush.

Duren writes:

"In what is certainly one of the most grotesque disemboweling of civil liberties since Congress last took a vote, the Supreme Court of the United States has granted unfettered authority to police or jail officials to conduct strip searches on any person arrested for any crime. So, dear reader, the next time you are stopped for a traffic violation by an officer who decides to make you an example, you could find yourself standing naked, exposed and exposing while a police officer or jailer looks you over in a way that would make a nearsighted urologist blush.

This kind of corrupt, Third World, dictatorial ruling opens the door for unreportable, unprovable molestation and rape."

I have not read all the briefs and opinions of the Supremes (Justices on the United States Supreme Court).  However, if what Marty Duren, respected pastor, author, and voice among Christians, is right in his understanding of this ruling, my stomach turns, my mind goes beserk, and my spirit groans.  How could this be?

How can a panel of robed elitist, and highly respected wise men and women come to such disgusting ruling?  Do they not see how their decision ushers in sanctioned abuse of power?  That's right...sanctioned and approved abuse of power.  Do they think that this ruling exempts themselves and their children and grandchildren--their moms and sisters and little cousins?  Are there any...I say, ANY, exceptions to their ruling?  I do not know--according to Marty's well-researched article, it does not appear so.  Surely the advocates of all-things-legal and right are looking into it with precedent-set microscopes and scapel-driven precision.  To think that "anyone arrested" of the least infraction of the law, shackled in handcuffs--be they guilty of any alledged violations or not--could find themselves stripped down to bare skin, is absolutely dehumanizing.  It begs for better definitions of the words absurb, deplorable, irrational, and insane.

It's sick!  Demented.  Beyond the pale of reasonable thinking.

Given the unreasonable violations of human dignity imposed (upon little old ladies wearing Depends and Poise pads, and toddlers wearing Huggies and Pampers when boarding jets to fly from Podunk, Kansas to Disney World), by TSA agents who show no respect for humanity, nor the common sense of a snail, we can only foresee the most horrendous of violations and constitutionally guaranteed rights of the electorate.

Folks, we do well to get to the bottom of this ruling.  We need to strip-search the entire wording of every brief and if need be, expose it to the world in its unflattering naked truth.  [All puns intended.]

If this is a ruling that negates and shackles law-enforcement officers from doing the unthinkable, and the most demeaning of actions when a preacher is arrested for reading the Bible in front of a DMV office, or a young woman is arrested for a sit-in protest at the Occupy Wall Street gatherings, or a teenage girl who stands too close to an Abortion Clinic...then we need to know.

We need to know when we parents and grandparents, send our unsuspecting (and sometimes foolish), children out into the highways and byways with their brand new shiny driver's licenses to pick up a gallon of milk, that if they weave, or roll to a stop, or heaven forbid, forget to buckle their seatbelt, then they will be arrested and strip-searched without the presence of an attorney or parental permission.

We need to know, to walk the line of law, set our cruise controls, air up our tires, and obey the rules of all cities, counties, and states before we dare hop in our cars and drive to grandpa's house to hunt ducks, or deer and not check the laws of the land for transporting weapons across state lines.

We need to know.   We need clarification.  We need details.  We need more folks to find out what in the world we are doing talking about Obama's ire regarding the decision of the Supremes concerning his unconstitutional Health Care Bill, when stripping that bill of a forced compliance to purchase insurance, is nothing, absolutely nothing, compared to strip-searching of Americans and foreigners alike. But when you consider the fact that uninsured Americans could be strip-searched if Obamacare as it is written, is ruled legitimate, and we fail to purchase health- insurance, we have got to rethink EVERYTHING we think.

Tell me you are mistaken, Marty.  Tell me I'm over-reacting to an over-zealous blogger's opinion and interpretation of the Supreme's recent ruling.  Tell me I'm a reader gone wild.  Please. Otherwise, I'm gonna move to Canada, sit inside my cabin in the woods, shut down all communication with the outside world, and never come out. God have mercy.  selahV

In what is certainly one of the most grotesque disemboweling of civil liberties since Congress last took a vote, the Supreme Court of the United States has granted unfettered authority to police or jail officials to conduct strip searches on any person arrested for any crime. So, dear reader, the next time you are stopped for a traffic violation by an officer who decides to make you an example, you could find yourself standing naked, exposed and exposing while a police officer or jailer looks you over in a way that would make a nearsighted urologist blush.

This kind of corrupt, Third World, dictatorial ruling opens the door for unreportable, unprovable molestation and rape.

In what is certainly one of the most grotesque disemboweling of civil liberties since Congress last took a vote, the Supreme Court of the United States has granted unfettered authority to police or jail officials to conduct strip searches on any person arrested for any crime. So, dear reader, the next time you are stopped for a traffic violation by an officer who decides to make you an example, you could find yourself standing naked, exposed and exposing while a police officer or jailer looks you over in a way that would make a nearsighted urologist blush.

In what is certainly one of the most grotesque disemboweling of civil liberties since Congress last took a vote, the Supreme Court of the United States has granted unfettered authority to police or jail officials to conduct strip searches on any person arrested for any crime. So, dear reader, the next time you are stopped for a traffic violation by an officer who decides to make you an example, you could find yourself standing naked, exposed and exposing while a police officer or jailer looks you over in a way that would make a nearsighted urologist blush.

In what is certainly one of the most grotesque disemboweling of civil liberties since Congress last took a vote, the Supreme Court of the United States has granted unfettered authority to police or jail officials to conduct strip searches on any person arrested for any crime. So, dear reader, the next time you are stopped for a traffic violation by an officer who decides to make you an example, you could find yourself standing naked, exposed and exposing while a police officer or jailer looks you over in a way that would make a nearsighted urologist blush.

In what is certainly one of the most grotesque disemboweling of civil liberties since Congress last took a vote, the Supreme Court of the United States has granted unfettered authority to police or jail officials to conduct strip searches on any person arrested for any crime. So, dear reader, the next time you are stopped for a traffic violation by an officer who decides to make you an example, you could find yourself standing naked, exposed and exposing while a police officer or jailer looks you over in a way that would make a nearsighted urologist blush.

BORING "Church" May Just Be a Thorn in An Average Joe's Flesh

THEN AGAIN...

it might just be a figment of a Christian's imagination.  "Boring church" could be the inability to focus on more than three words at a time, absent of vowels. I read where some folks are having a tough time sitting in front of a computer without web-surfing to eleven things in a twenty-minute period.  They get antsy.

Many folks go to work, turn on their computers, and don't feel like balancing the books from last month's checking account. They get bored entering data, analyzing business particulars.  So they let their fingers run wild finger-clicking from eBay, to Craig's list, then back to the spreadsheet they're working on for the boss.  Within ten minutes they get bored with themselves and their inability to think creatively, so they click on over to the latest BUZZ, or check their Twitter feed, and Facebook "walls", to stimulate their braincells and get some inspiration for how to make the boss believe they worked all day on a project that only took thirty, very interrupted minutes.  

Or "boring church" could be the need to be entertained with Hollywood-style productions-- the bling, the lights, the dry ice and fake snow.  Of course, it could be that a few preachers just don't know how to preach and walk and dance and act and sing and dramatize and sit still on those uncomfortable, but trendy stools.  Some old preachers have a bit of a problem balancing their floppy Bibles without a podium.  Others don't like that little wire, draped around their ears and down their backs.

Others just wanna have fun.

I went to the directory of SBC Voices today to see if my post had loaded into their website correctly (sometimes it gets caught up in a time-warp somewhere).  In reality I think it's because Satan is battling Michael and trying to keep my warm fuzzies and witty wonders from getting to you in a timely manner.  While I was scanning to see if my last post made it out of the gate and into the pool of greater thinkers than I, I happened to notice a question in the titles.  I love titles with questions, don't you?  you can sit back in your recliner and answer that question without even bothering to read the post.  After all, we have a right to answer a question posed to us don't we?  No?  Uh, oh, I need to go back and tell a blogger friend of mine, that I answered his question instead of reading his post to get his answers.

Rhetorical questions are sooooo annoying, aren't they?

Just when you think you have the right answer, the questioner whips out their own.   Kinda like google's search engines.  They automatically type in what you are thinking before you even have it figured out.  Gee.  Anyway, I was ready...I'm talking greased-and-primed ready... when I saw fellow blogger, Joe Thorn's question in the featured blog titles.  He asked: "Are You Tired Of Your Boring Church?"

...yeah, buddy.  I had the comeback.

I was gonna tell him my church ain't boring.  Between choruses of hand-clapping praise harmoizing with tradition Victory-in-Jesus-style hymns, then a few minutes of shaking hands, and hugging on people, we switch to specials that reach inside your ears and melt your heart to tears, till you know God is in there--stuck there stirring up an appetite in your spirit for the main entre.  Bro. Doug stands, and walks up all calm and cool to our portable podium, opens up his Bible, and begins to break the Bread of Life in expository fashion.  Soon you're so filled up you don't even notice that it's time to leave and go home for dinner. (You were so caught up in the Words, that you didn't even remember to think about the roast you have cooking at home or whether or not it's getting dry).

But before you head for the back door, you realize you have a front row seat to the next hand-clapping, celestial celebration of the angels in heaven, as some lost soul hears God telling 'em He wants 'em to join His family forever and ever and ever.  So you get to go and introduce yourself, and let them know that you are gonna be around for eternity, so you hope they get use to your chubby cheeks and happy face while they are here on earth.

After answering that rhetorical question inside my brain, I clicked on over to see how Joe Thorn answered it, and if you think I'm gonna spoil the whole thing for you, well...you're gonna be sorely disappointed.  Go HERE if you are "tired of your boring church" and see what (the not-so-average) Joe says.  Never let it be said that I think I have all the answers.  Oh, no.  Not I.  selahV

Smacked Down, Rebuked, Admonished and WELL...

overestimated, I suppose.

FRIENDLY WARNING...this is longer than my usual 600 to 800 words.  Should you choose to stop reading and lodge complaint, do so in the comment box.  I may not respond, but I will read it.  Not promising I will publish it.  You see, that way I will not be accused of deleting or altering it. (tongue-in-cheek TIC)  On with my post:

Today I received a very very kind word via automatic subscription from a man I truly respect.  He is among many Calvinist ministers and reformed-thinking Christians I know and love.  In 2006, a former 5-point Calvinist introduced me to the wild and wooly world of internet blogging.  The first time I ever heard of a blog is when I heard of Rosie O'Donnell's diatribes of controversy over gay-marriage.  Imagine that!  I thought web-sites were for folks with tons and tons of money.  I had a computer, albeit an antiquated 1990's model which had been refurbished a couple of times to accomodate web connections with the world beyond my tiny sphere of AOL Instant Messaging and eBay selling.  I had no knowledge of Calvinism or their identification with the TULIP.  I did not even know my friend of many years ever wore a 5-point Calvinist badge of honor. 

Rambling and reminiscing ends.  Point begins.

I don't consider myself a "player" in the interworking machinations of SBC politics...or any politics for that matter.  I'm a lone voice in a very tiny space.  I speak for no one but myself (and my Lord on higher issues).  My friend who got me started in blogging did so because he thought I needed to write to purge the pangs of all-consuming grief over the loss of my 33-year-old son.  My longstanding friend also knew my heart and how deeply I loved the SBC for which I attribute a great deal of credit for my salvation of mind, body and soul. 

I'm going somewhere, I promise.

As I stepped into the baptismal waters of blogging, I discovered that sometimes the water is extremely frigid, and other times uncomfortably boiling.  Very rarely did I find any lukewarm or bathtub temperatures in which to wade, splash about, or drop a line into and sit a spell.  Rarely were there any nibbles on my line.  In fact, one dear Calvinist friend of mine told me after I'd been blogging for several months at the same fishing hole as he, that he'd usually skipped over my words of wit and wisdom.  Can you believe?  Then one fine day he got tangled in my line.  After that, he decided he'd always make an effort to read what I had to say.  We became fast friends, moreso because of God, but partially because I came to his defense in a discussion along the SBC watering-holes of life.  We were already brother and sister in Christ.  I often prayed for him in his ministry and in his studies at SWBTS. He shared concerns on being a young and eager minister in an "established" church.  I still mention he and his family in my prayers today, though I haven't chatted with him in a very very long time.  He got tired of all the quibbling amongst the SBC brethren and retired from blogging to minister to the sheep in his flock and seek the lost in the fields ripe unto harvest. (I know lots of men like him.)

I met other bloggers along the way in the midst of controversy and muddy waters.  Some, I debated ad nauseum.  One in particular, seemed to follow me around and snipe my every remark and comment.  She had this uncanny way of twisting everything I said to mean something I'd never intended it to mean.  She read every single word I wrote and accused me of some rather seedy things.  She presupposed every post or devotional I wrote, was written with her in mind.  I even had a special file-folder for emails she continued to write.  I stopped reading them and answering them, I simply deposited them in the file-folder of fodder.  I did my best to converse and communicate, but ya know?  Some folks ya just need to avoid...you need to ignore...you need to forgive, pray for, and accept as Jesus would.  Then kick the dust from your feet and move on down the road.

I was invited to write for every collaborative blog I was a part of.  I did not beg or push my way into those forums.  I was usually asked to be a part of them at their conception.  As they gained notoriety, and other contributors, my voice and presence was a little more than tolerated for my token view.  Most times, things moved along like a barge on the Ohio River...calmly, peacefully, steadily.  I tried to ignore the logs in the river and tend to the one in my eye.  Whenever I felt welcome in the area in which I wrote, I stayed.  And I wrote.  I even defended those with whom I did not agree at times.  Other times, I remained silent.  I met some very gracious and grace-filled folks along the way.  I've prayed for many I've never met...and they have prayed for me. 

Far more blessings and friends have come my way than warts and toads.  Even ones who might count me enemy, I count as brother or sister.  I may not see eye to eye with them on subject, style, and substance, but I will not question the probability that we will share space at the heavenly feast someday.  The best part about that is, we will each be perfected and complete--one mind--one spirit.  In full and perfect fellowship and accord.  Won't it be grand?

One time, early into my writing ministry, I found that my antiquated computer could no longer meet the needs of my perpetual pecking.  I wrote about it on my blog.  It was near the time, as I recall, that my husband had a major heart attack.  Simultaneously, our financial situation became so grave that I decided the internet connection and my web-service would have to go.  Our budget could not include such luxury.

Out of the blue, an internet friend (who happens to be Calvinist), invited me to lunch in Wichita Falls, Texas. After luxuriously dining at the Olive Garden, she took me to her trunk and presented me with a brand new computer, printer and keyboard.  Before I made it home I was penning a letter in my mind to another internet friend (and virtual stranger, who asked to remain anonymous). I'd met her when I encouraged her to hang tough in the SBC, there was a place for her.  This same person had already contacted me and was boxing up a refurbished computer for me to have "free of charge".  When I told her I was already given another computer, she told me I could let my husband have it for his ministry.  God provides, my friends.  He really really does.  I was privileged and honored to pray for her and her husband when the IMB commissioned them as missionaries abroad.

Within a few days of receiving the Olive Garden computer, a person I did not know sent me his book about his father.  In the book was three twenty-dollar bills.  I could not believe it.  At the time, it was the exact amount I needed to keep my internet connection.  Again, God provided.

The same person who sent me his book, asked if he could share my overwhelming financial strain and health problems with others.  I said, "Of course."  We needed all the prayers we could garner.  Within a few weeks, my husband received a letter from a church in the "southern" reaches of Texas.  The church informed my husband that they'd been contacted about us, and had a ministry for retired ministers in which they sent a monthly love-gift to them in gratitude for faithfully serving  Christ.  At that time, they supported over 179 retiree ministers.  Again, we were amazed at the generosity of God's people in the SBC.  Each month we cash their Macedonian-style gift to us to help us continue the study and writing ministry we each seek to follow as led by God.  There is so much more I could write about all this; it would fill a book or two.

Suffice it to say, dear friends...my journey in blogging far exceeds any one post.  It goes far beyond the import of any one comment in any particular stream. There are times I'd rather not write.  Times I'd rather just ignore the muse which clamors for voice.  Times I'd rather not read what I read about our beloved convention.  The squabbles.  The divisions.  The changes.

I am not perfect.  I do not pretend to be.  I am not wise or intelligent, educated,  knowlegable, theologically astute, or righteously pure.  I have faults and I admit them.  When I wrote a rather innocuous comment on a sister blog, to a particular post, I weighed the impact of its content, the possibility of it annoying some who'd read it and accuse some commenters of trolling and "watch-blogging".

Yet, I also thought that the simplicity in which I wrote it spoke volumes to the substance of the post I'd started reading.  Prior to and upon deletion of my comment, I read it several times.  It's okay that others found it unacceptable.  It's okay that a fellow brother wrote and told me he thought about deleting it before someone else beat him to the punch.  It's okay that folks do not agree with me.  It's a free country.  The first ammendment applies to us all.  And, furthermore, the dime in which another pays to keep a website afloat is theirs to choose who comments and who does not.  And it is, now, equally okay for me to voice my dissent for which my original utterance found itself cremated forevermore.  Below...BEHOLD the comment that seems so offensive it could not be left afloat in the stream:

"Well, Brandon, I didn’t read your post. My mind shut down at the introduction of who Steve is: Director of Acts29 Western Europe.  I said to myself, Acts 29?  I’m not in Kansas anymore. I checked the link to ascertain I was at “SBC” Voices.   Acts-29 is not a voice I am interested in hearing. No offense…".

Testy? yes.  Angry? no.  Pointed? yes.  Elaborating? no.  Snarky? a bit.  Harsh?  hardly.  Insulting? unintentional.  Unequivocable? Yes.  Unclear? No.  Succinct? unquesitionably.  Fallible? of course.  Substantive? debateable.  Without merit? Unlikely.  Pithy?  Most definitely.  Consequential? oh yeah.  Dishonorable?  judge not lest ye be judged.

Confession is in order:  Since I posted my comment, and before it's deletion, I finished reading the larger portion of the post on which I'd commented.  I concluded that my comment met the same criteria as I'd first written it to mean.

UNDERSTAND:

I was a "Southern Baptist" voice.  In a Southern Baptist forum of voices where "most" folks find liberty to confess they drink in moderation, rebuke those who abstain, support those who cuss, admonish those who cannot see beyond a flaw, find sport in calling some Georgia boys the "anti-Christ", yet embrace any and all who are anything but traditional Volunteer Fans, accuse brethren (who give invitations, hand out tracts, and sing Just As I Am) of fundamentalism, hypocrisy, legalism, heresy, and plain old ignorance and fuddy duddiness.  It's a place where SBC leaders are lauded for calling we who "see things", too, senile old bathrobed troublemakers in the twit-less-sphere.  It's where we are mocked for wanting bylaws adhered to, and convention messengers votes to be honored.  It's a forum where writers and contributors feel free to reduce the name of "Southern" Baptist to a racial slur and shameful epithet of heretical proportion which must be endured forevermore.

So, unless I moved to "Kansas" in the last series of tornadoes here in Oklahoma, that is where I dared to post an opinion of disinterest.  If I wasn't in the right forum for speaking as a Southern Baptist then, someone please send me a pair of "ruby slippers".  The yellow-brick road to Oz is more than my old hips can endure.  selahV (a.k.a. The Dragon-Lady)

ONE VOICE CRYING...

is all that's necessary at times. And sometimes one voice is unnecessary amongst the throng of other voices.  While some voices are meant to dialogue, converse, debate and discuss...others are bound and determined to contend.  For the latter, I tend to avert and sit on the sidelines.  Every now and then, I've stepped into the waters of controversy and (as I've stated many times), found the water above my head.  Such is my lot today.

I happened upon a post today that sparked an urge in me to stand against the current of opposition.  One portion stated: 

"As the song says, “it only takes a spark to get a fire going.” It only takes one man (or woman) to take a stand against authoritarianism to make a difference. When the right person begins to speak up and to put feet to their words, it’s amazing how quickly the floodgates open." Howell Scott

Lately, some folk shared concerns and questions regarding my thoughts on various posts.  Some have been "seeing things" change in me.  They are curious as to what is going on in my mind and my world.  Alas, there are some questions that cannot be answered...some arguments that cannot be countered.  No matter how close we've become to one another, some things must be left unsaid.  Or left to other voices to share.  I find I no longer have a desire to tread turbulent waters where floodgates seek release.

One voice crying amongst the throng is but a whisper in the wind when accusations fly and preconceived notions determine the volume of the voice.  Judgment has been rendered.  Case closed.  For me, anyway.

Suffice it to say, I am still me.  I am still standing where I've always stood.  I have not changed.  My eyes are opened a bit wider since 2006.  Some folks I've met along the way have been invaluable in helping me see and understand the changing times.  Others folks I've met do not know me.  They may think they do, but they do not.  They never have.  And, there is nothing wrong with that, nor is there anything offensive in that.  It is life.  It is the way life is.  C' est la vie.

It's definitely not worth losing sleep over, or even typing another word of dissent.  Nope.  Not worth it.  It doesn't affect me personally, anyway.  I am secure.  Sealed. Bought and paid for.  Sanctified and justified.  Holy and acceptable in Christ, my Lord.  I do not need man's approval, nor do I seek it.

Opinions are funny things.  Ones we agree with are acceptable.  Ones we do not, are unacceptable.  Yet even that is debatable to some.  Viewpoints are ostracizing or accommodating.  Attitudes are kind or unkind.  Intention and motives are only pure in the eyes of the beholder, I suppose.  Nevertheless...silence is what one wants, then silence is what one gets.  I am an accommodating kinda gal.  Squeeze me long and hard enough and I will fold like a deck of cards.  Not because I have no voice to cry out...nay, but because I have no desire to play the games some folks play and bend to every wind of doctrine.  I'll find another stream in which to dangle my line.  There are far more fish in the sea than in the streams around stocked moats, anyway.  If anyone asks, just tell them I've "gone fishing" in saltier waters, okay? saint selahV

[A Blogger's Comfort Zone/link]

WORDS OF WISDOM from DR. STEVE GAINES interviewed by SBC Today

Among so many words, it's hard to say what touches a chord more in my heart.  I picked these as my favorite from this interview with Dr. Steve Gaines:

"What good is a prayerless conservative, a prayerless preacher, or a prayerless professor? We must talk with God before we try to talk for God. We need daily prayer. Yesterday’s manna won’t feed us. Yesterday’s anointing won’t empower us. Yesterday’s prayers won’t help us make it through today." Dr. Steve Gaines, SBC Today

My spirit echos these words to add, what good indeed?

For that matter..."what good is a prayerless" blogger, prayerless writer, mother, father, Sunday School teacher, politician, or church committee member?

Sometimes I wonder how much thought goes into a person's email before they send it.  I wonder how much thought goes through a person's mind before they reply.  I wonder how much thought is given before one posts a comment, or into a post before one publishes it?  Do we test the weight of our words?  Do we examine our thoughts? our hearts?  Do we place them in the "light" of the Word?

"We must talk with God before we try to talk for God." Dr. Steve Gaines

Lord, teach us to pray.  Let us reach for You each morning before we do our coffee, before we grab our laptops and ipads.  Let us seek Your face before we link to facebook, a favorite blogsite, check an email box, or Twitter account.  Let us spend time before You and with You before we tip-toe, or charge, into the world beneath our feet...or, beyond our fingertips.   Let our thoughts be compatible with Yours, oh, Lord, our Savior and Redeemer.  Feed our thoughts with Yours.  Fuel our spirit with Yours.  Fill our minds with Your discernment.  And let as we go, let us speak the truth as best we know how.  selahV

HOW TO WIN BLUE-COLLAR BLOG MADNESS by Anonymous Guest Writer

1: Agree with as many people in the world as you can in three weeks and follow instructions in #5.

2: Compliment all the people who write on the reformed blogs.

3: Support the other reformed bloggers and link to their posts.

4: Write for any of the reformed blogs.

5: Beg everyone you know to vote for you.

6: "Friend" and "Follow" all the commenters at Founders, SBC Voices, and every other person you can.  Be very very nice and heed #4 and 5.

7: Be pro-nickname passage.

8: Write articles dissing Peter Lumpkins, and praising Mark Driscoll, Jonathan Merritt & the YRR and Dr. Al Mohler.  (Just kidding)

9: With any leftover time, try and write something that someone wants to read.

10:  And for pete's sake...be a man! 

[Disclaimer: I'm just kidding! selahV]

JUMPSTART OF SBC Encounters

I interrupt my irregularly scheduled blog for this commercial announcement:

I have things that concern me about the SBC in general and encounters within the sphere of internet conversations. These things revolve around our Convention of cooperating churches and the mission to reach the world for Christ.  SelahV Today's serves another purpose in my writing ministry.  So...

I decided to jumpstart SBC Encounters once again.  There, my posts center on or have a connection to Southern Baptists I encounter.  If interested, check out my thoughts about Chris Roberts on "assigning Calvinist moderators to comment streams at SBC Voices".  I'm not offended...really...just a bit...well...wary.  So thought I'd share my SBC Encounter/link with whoever wants to chat on subjects I find noteworthy in SBC conversations.  Now...back to our regularly scheduled blog.  Coming Up Monday: Taming the Dragon Lady. 

By No Other Name

I have a friend who is writing a book.  And she's been getting all kinds of advice on what to title it.  I keep telling her that it is her book.  Its content is her thoughts, not someone else's.  Seems to me, if they want to name a book, they oughta go write their own.

I'm working on a book, too.  I've picked its name.  And I have my reasons for its title. Some folks will never read my book because it is me who wrote it and they have a preconceived idea of who I am and what I believe.  My reputation preceeds me.

I love the name of this blog.  I fell in love with my moniker the moment I made it up.   I pronounce SelahV the way the French say, that's life, or such is life: C'est la vie.  I gave a lot of thought to SelahV Today.  Then I started other blogs.  And really, none of them completely tell the whole story of who I am.  Yet, combined, they paint an abstract picture of Hariette Petersen...Christian, writer, wife, mother, grandmother, friend, Southern Baptist, Political Conservative, and enthusiast for various things.  I am interested in the machinations of our country, and the history of my faith. 

Some folks who read my various blogs, know me by SelahV, others by Hariette.  Some see my passion for sharing encouraging words through Devotional Writing and become fans.  Others read an opinionated piece of blather I write and never return.  Some folks like what I say, others, not so much.  It's okay.  That's life.  Even I don't like everything I say (I'm still learning).  Not every person who reads my writing can know me completely.  And often folks can take a pinch of what another is, and make that the sum total of who they are...they do not want to go beyond the "pinch".  Sometimes they don't even take a pinch, they take a smidgeon of what another thinks and form an opinion that way.

I'm not always dogmatic or narrow-minded.  Nor am I always whimsical and ooey gooey.  I state what I know, what I believe about what I know, and sometimes...I speak before I think and say stuff I don't know.  I once had someone call me "The Ubiquitous One" in our blogging community.  I had to look that one up.  I thought.  Is he picking on me?  I was surprised to discover it's meaning.  Who woulda thunk?

I don't think it's possible to actually assign one characteristic to a person and consider it the sum total of who they are.  Do you?  I know some folks who profess to be Christians with whom I wouldn't want to be associated or linked to as "believers".  I know some Republicans who could not possibly speak for me.  Shucks, I know some Southern Baptists who don't believe what I believe theologically, philosophically or morally.  There are even some very notable people who would never endorse my writing and I wouldn't want them to endorse my writing.  "SelahV Today" is life as I see it, today.  And for what it is worth, I am happy with it.  Even if some folks aren't.  You can't please everyone...no matter how hard you try.  I've learned that the hard way.

But, you see, I know that the foundation of my blog, the purpose for which I write, is grounded in my faith in an awesome, forgiving, compassionate, long-suffering, merciful God.  And when I flub a post, He is there with me...flooding me with His grace to make me a better writer, a better person.  I depend on Him.  By His name I am called His child.  By no other Name do I want to live my life today.  selahV

Don't Write About Yourself

That's what prolific author of 20 books, Gary Smailes, said.  I receive this writer's blog in my email via subscription.  He blogs about writing because he knows how to get published.  He shares his insights with wannabe authors and bloggers to help them reach their writing goals.  He's the man!  When I opened his email yesterday, I felt my face warm.  My heart skipped a beat at his blog-title:

"Don’t Blog About You"

Oh, my word! Imagine my muse jumping out of my head and grabbing my fingertips.  I could hardly read his post without my brain taking off in a thousand directions as I argued with Gary.  If I don't write about me, Gary, then who can I write about?  You?  I can't write about you, I don't know enough about you to write about you.  So, I'm game, what do I write about?  I'm not That-Artist-Woman, The-Pioneer-Woman, Scribe-Artist, Theologian/Christian-Culture-Writer, A tech-guru-informant, Tim Challies, or Cycle-Guy's Spin on life!!!  You mean to tell me that no one cares what I think about stuff?

Friends, let me tell you something; it was like Gary could hear my argumentative rant.  He wrote:

"The golden rule for thinking up blog post ideas is to remember that everyone is selfish. People want to read blog posts that entertain and add value to their lives. The brutal reality is that they don’t want to hear about your thoughts and everyday problems. Instead, they want to know what you know that will help them reach their goals."

Great day in the morning.  I'm toast!  Where was Gary when I first started blogging?  Over 2,000 posts under the bridge and I am just finding out I shouldn't write about me?  Imagine how I felt.  No, don't.  If you do, you'll be buying into my ruse of blogging about myself, my thoughts, my feelings, my perspective.  I guess Gary is right.

You see, yesterday morning I got one of those "unsubscribe" messages in my email inbox.  Someone who "was" subscribing and reading my blog, (or at least allowing Feedburner to send a copy of my blog and to be opened in their email box-- no telling if they opened it or not), decided they no longer wanted me in their inbox.) Sigh....what's a person to do?  Gary warned me.

I have a decent following for a person who writes about herself, her woes, her struggles, her triumphs, her questions, her pet peeves, her opinions, her relationships with others, her faith and her grandchildren.  However, I really have no super duper clear understanding who reads me.  I only know "some" who read me.  It's only when someone "UN-subscribes" to my blog, that Feedburner sends me a message to let me know.  For what, I do not know.  It kinda feels like a slap in the face, a bucket of cold water, a rude wake-up call.  If the person who unsubscribes never connects with us, we may not ever know how to connect with them.  If they subscribed at one point, they must have liked something we wrote.

Of course, I don't just write about the mouse in the house, the snake attack, the gangs who vandalized my car, or the car accident that turned my world upside down.  Something must be wrong with me.  I tend to write about how God breaks down His truth to me...how He teaches me, guides me, and feeds me.  I share how I blow it, and how He lifts me up from the miry pit I slip into.  I don't know, folks; I have always loved to read devotionals.  Especially those that included a tidbit about the author's life.

Slices of another's life fill my life.  I like them.  I learn lessons and receive a message from just about anyone's story.  People are the most interesting topics I can think of.  Character, virtue, discipline, quirks, challenges, solutions.  People reveal so much.  People give us wisdom, accumulated experience, corporate understanding and a multiplicity of ideas, tips, and assistance.  I like reading blogs about folks who talk about themselves and what they did that day.  I can't help myself.

I like Gary Smaile's ideas and I like his Bubble Cow blog.  However, I have to disagree a tad, that personal chatter is unsuccessful to the world-wide-web of conversation.  People like people.  We can all google information sites, encyclopedia references.  We have explanations, definitions and geneology at our fingertips.  We have You-tube instructional videos, and personal photos to browse on Flickr and make us say, "Aaaawh".  We follow one another's short-brain waves on Twitter, Linked In, Buzz, Facebook and other social media venues and live in a virtual world of pleasantries, updates, and connections.  We share all kinds of stuff as we seek to be less lonely and better informed.  Just because a blog does not teach one to fly a jet plane, sew a jean-purse, paint a portrait, write a book, or build a treehouse, doesn't mean that blog is insignificant and a failure.  We "disclosers" may not be linked to Huffington Post, Farmer's Almanac, or famous publishers.  But we who give TMI (too much information), and write silly entries about our mistakes, stupidity, and ignorance still, if you please, have a space to fill in someone's life.  We are not failures because we do not succeed like others succeed.

I know I will never win an award for what I do.  I'm just a "common matters" kind of writer.  I slice off a chunk of my life and place it on your proverbial window until you have time or inclination to peek at what I've cooked up.  You have the choice to read me, save me, forward me, like me, or delete me.  Let's face it.  Even the most prolific writer has folks who "unsubscribe" for lack of interest.  So, I guess I'll keep tip-tapping away--telling you what's going on in my little splice of life.

May God take my insignificance and help you see His and yours.  May He show you the extra-ordinary from my ordinary.  May you gain insight and foresight from my hindsight.  If not, may you find someplace, somewhere and someone who does better than I in explaining how great He is.  selahV  Oh...and....

If You Don't Like My Blog, Maybe You'll Like My Devotionals.  

Just Another Bucket List

Only a few folks have the advantage (or disadvantage), of knowing when their days on earth are coming to a close.  I watched snippets of a movie on television a few months ago about a couple of men who wrote their "bucket list"-- things they wanted to do, or see, or accomplish before they "kicked the bucket".  Some of it was sad, some humorous, some quite poignant.  It made me wonder what I would put on my bucket list, should I be given forewarning.

As it is, I decided to put down a few ideas floating around in my brain.

Travel:  I'd love to visit England and Ireland.  I'd like to stay in some quaint little village in some sweet lady's bed and breakfast.  However, all things being "real", I could easily settle for a little bed and breakfast in Jonesboro, Tennessee in May on my way to visit some friends I have in Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia.  I'd also settle for New England in Autumn to visit another friend and my brother, then Maine in Summer.

My fondest dream is to go stand beneath those gigantic Redwood trees in California and take a picture looking up.  Have I told you this before?  Deja vu moment here.

I'd like to get back into a size 10...but a 12 would suffice.

I'd like to take my granddaughters to tour Washington, D.C. and New York City...just to see the expressions on their faces.  I'd settle for someone else taking them and seeing a video of them as they discover new things.

I'd love to start a tea-party/Bible study/prayer time in my house for ladies on Tuesdays.

I want to make two quilts and I really think that is do-able.  Plan to begin this coming January.  Lord willing, I'll finish my book before then.

I'd like to get all my pictures scrapbooked.  And all my advice thoughts compiled for posterity so I can leave them to my granddaughters...not that they'd read them till they are my age, anyway.  Ha..that's an amusing thought.

I'd like to get all the blog-posts I've written (which pass my editing muster), printed out on paper.

I want to plant a small garden in my backyard with roses and cosmos next Spring.  If life is kind, I want a little greenhouse/art studio outside my little efficiency space where I can grow tomatoes, peppers, lettuce and herbs year-round.  I want to start painting classes again, too...and paint some of my favorite things.

I'd like to record my last words for my own funeral.  Gotta live up to my daughter's expectation of me to have the last word, you know.

I'd like to have one more slow dance with my husband in the light of the silvery full moon.  And well, it seems as I write out these thoughts that I can't possibly get everything done if I don't begin right away.  After all, there is no promise of tomorrow, is there?

It Shouldn't Surprise Us

when folks do not speak well of us for doing good.  After all, Jesus said the world would hate us if we profess to know Him and then go on to proclaim His name.  It doesn't surprise me that folks come under attack from the world when they denounce those who distort the Word of God.  Nor am I shocked when a hailstorm of critcism falls upon the head of one who brings to light some dark deed or action of those in high places.  It's Biblical.  Your sins will find you out.  When you sow thistles, thistles come up...even if it is in the middle of a perfectly tilled bed of roses.

However, I am a bit taken aback when others spread unsubstantiated rumors.  I tend to get a bit more than irritated when some folks get in a hurry to share negativity just because they can.  Just because they know some tantalizing info.  For the record?  I don't want to know.  Sometimes, the best of intentions is still not good enough reason, or cause, to divulge something we know.  I've kept more information to myself that could hurt another's feelings if they knew.  Why would I want to tell something hurtful to another?  Wisdom trumps knowledge.  Wisdom discerns when to share and when not to share.

If the truth is not necessary to my well-being, don't share it.

If the truth is helpful, edifying, and cloaked in pure and honest prayer, then okay...tell me.  But I don't want to hear the rubbish some folks dig out of another's trash can.

A few months ago, someone shared some things others said about someone near and dear to me and it so colored my opinion of those "others" that I couldn't speak to them anymore.  I could no longer trust their greetings to me.  I could no longer be in their presence without suspicion.  I no longer felt free to talk.  In fact, it affected how I shared with everyone.  I held back.  I had trouble accepting folks at face-value.

Why?  Why do people find such pleasure in criticizing others?  Why rush to tell bad news and withhold "good news"?  Why spread around the negative?  I wonder.  

If we all would share the good things we hear about others, the edifying, the compliments, the appreciation, would we be better for it?  Would another?

Why must bloggers spend the majority of cyberspace nitpicking and opining destructive flaws and failures?  Why don't we see more affirming posts that point out the good in another's life, the hope we witness, the faith we see displayed, the goodness and success and achievements?  No, we're not to boast of ourselves, but we could dwell on that which is good and share some of that...don't you think? A little bit, once in a while?  If we found a bit of sugar sprinkled into the brew of bitterness in life, it shouldn't surprise us, should it?  Don't know about you, but it sure pokes my happy button.  selahV

ANOTHER DEVOTIONAL: Oh, My Word, Did You Hear Why...

I'm Tired of Writing

Not so much because I don't like to write.  But I'm tired of having my posts disappear when I hit "save".  Or when I post a picture into the post.  Something is amiss according to my website host, Typepad.

They told me it's because I'm using Internet Explorer 9.  That could have been a credible reason if not for the fact I've been using that for quite some time.  Months.  So why all of a sudden does it mess up?

They suggest I go to Firefox as a browser.  I know nothing about Firefox.  I do know that some of these search engines are trying to monopolize the world.  Like Google is the biggest.  And Bing wants to be a top dog.

Somehow I think they are all conspiring to get the business for their particular group.  And I just wonder if the reason folks have trouble with Facebook is because of the browser, too.  Last week I couldn't get onto Facebook for days.  Thought it was my computer and discovered it wasn't when others started having a similar cloud of white cover their screens.

Sabotage.  Conspiracy.  Stolen words--ripped from the monitor right before my eyes.  My brain is not as young as it use to be.  When I write something, and it's put on the page, my brain deletes it.  Bob, my dear hubby, says that's a good thing.  Makes room for more new stuff.  Only problem is, if the website keeps gobbling up my gook, what reason is there to write it?

So I'm thinking I am the only one having this problem and I oughta quick whining and stop being a baby and acting like an old woman, and figure it out.  So I go to the "Help" section of Typepad, and there's a bevy of folks who were closed down in "mid save", and when uploading photos, and changing things.  They were reporting the 502 Error messages they were getting.  Bad Connection messages.  eeeeh...heebie jeebies.

H E L P!

Hey, all you techie folks out there:  If I switch to Firefox to accomodate Typepad, will that mean I have to change all my Feedburner settings and the links that other directories have so kindly placed in their blogsites and aggregators?  Anyone know if this is really worth the trouble?  Firefox...sounds like a sneaky creature that's just gonna burn up my words instead of eating them.  What say ye?

 

 

There's More to ME than SelahV TODAY

Yeah...that's right.  I find the more I write on SelahV Today, the more folks see me as that writer/person, blogger.  Some of you know I write devotionals, but few realize my interests are far-reaching.  When I started blogging in 2006, I had a dream to make a website that allowed me freedom to publish the stuff I like to write about I even hoped to one day have like-minded, joy-brimming, honey-coated, creative-soulmates contribute to my site (that's coming).

For me, one blog was rather limiting.  When God gives you an over-active creative brain, you simply can't put it all in one shoebox --(at one time I had 12 blogs...crazy).  The problem back in 2006 was the feed-features weren't available to me without enormous costs and a degree in html and website design.  Today...thanks to Typepad's user-friendly hosting, I am able to do tons of stuff I only hoped a webmaster could do. Sooooo...

Integrating my blogs together with rolling feeds in my sidebars seemed like a great solution.  That way you can see a pinch of most everything I write at various spots.  This is a work in progress.  I've been spending a great deal of time creating, organizing, and designing my dreams.  Amazingly...

since I began my quest to integrate my blogs in this fashion, my Google Analytics say my visits are up nearly 60%; and folks are staying 48% longer.  This means I am doing something that helps my readers.  And this is my goal at SelahV Today:

To bring uplifting, edifying encouragement, information, and devotional thoughts.  At times I am a bit opinionated when a subject riles me, impassions me, or disturbs me-- (I admit, on occasion, I have to repent and lean on God's new mercies each morning--good thing He's not finished with me).  But even with those times, I hope to reign in my ego and point us all back to the ultimate help we have as Christians...the LORD Jesus Christ.

I am particularly interested in expanding my Kids' Matters and Feminine Matters sliver of SelahV Today.  Would like to link up with more of those kind of blogs so we could connect others to the unbelievable creative gifts throughout the internet.  I go some places and it's simply bleh.  I go to others and think, WOW...I like this idea, technique, useful gardening craft, or artistic business.  So, it's my hope that you'll catch the drift of where I'm headed.  I'm excited about what God will do with me next as I use the gifts He has given me for His kingdom. 

I hope you'll take a bit of time and peruse the various parts of this site to see Daily Impact, Feminine Matters, Food Matters, Kids' Matters, and my weekly newspaper column (republished) at Common Matters. You'll see little picture/button/icons and below each are portions of my other blogs with links (will add more each week).  I'm hoping you know someone somewhere who'll like something I have to offer.  I yearn to be that virtuous woman.  I plan on working more and more on this as time goes on. 

"Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates." Proverbs 31:31

Let me know what you think.  Oh...and also, send my your links with cool posts you find while internet surfing.  Especially if they involve kids adventures, and interesting innovative women.     selahV and "ME"

NOTORIETY Breeds Jealousy

Notoriety enters a room and swallows the applause of adoring masses.  It rarely notices its reflection of pride in the mirror hanging on the wall.  Nor does it see the faces of jealousy in the crowds behind it.  It gets so caught up in the praise of man, it confuses it with selfworth and personal value.  When the applause dies down, when the lights dim, when adoring fans walk away, or get distracted by another, notoriety may find itself looking into a mirror reflecting back shadows of distorted importance.

I was reading a post a few days back.  Evidently, the author had popularity and notoriety on his mind.  He couldn't sleep so out of curiosity he decided to go check the statistics on Technorati of various blogs in blogland.  He wondered why Technorati rated one blog above another and how they came to their conclusions. He listed a group of folks he thought germane to his post and gave their ratings with Technorati.  When I saw my name grouped with another I had to chuckle.  I can't remember the numbers offhand.  It's been a few days since I read it.

I know a little bit about Technorati's ratings and how it all comes together.  I checked into it when I started my blog in 2006.  Didn't really understand it all then.  Know a lot more about it today.  For me, the only reason it is of value is if one wants to develop a strong powerful voice in their respective focus group of readers, or because they want to make money from their blog.  Technorati can give you an analysis of how you are rank with a competitor based on their standards of block popularity monitoring.  Checking on your stats is interesting on occasion--competition is fun.  But in the end, I think comparing oneself to others breeds a bit of jealousy.  Notoriety does that at times.  Especially if a person isn't liked by a certain other person or group.  It gnaws at one's core to think someone they find arrogant, appalling, brash, or controversial, could be influential in forming ideas and views.  Pity the jealous among us.

I must admit that I would like to be a force of influence within our community of faith.  Not to boast a high ranking.  Not so much to make money, though that would be nice.  I want to help folks to know Jesus.  Admittedly, I sometimes get carried away and rant and ramble about some goofy political issue.  Or I may vent my thoughts on the perils and evils of blogging.  But for the most part, I want to share my Lord and how He gives me strength, peace and hope.  In a world dominated by entities and personalities which seek to destroy the things I count dear, I strive to stir up hearts and minds to grow in Christ.  I long to manifest His Spirit to the world by encouraging others, having patience, showing kindness, goodness and love.

It's not always easy.  I'm not always successful.  Sometimes I get so lazy I don't care.  Yet, I know this is a calling for me.  It is a ministry I love...especially since my health keeps me from doing other things I once did.  So, whether I rank high with Technorati or people "like" me with Facebook, click Follow, subscribe to my feed, or I have any commenters, I will still keep on writing...at least for Today.  selahV