Eco Pure Generosity

Today I was very pleasantly surprised by a display of generosity by one of our local merchants, Eco Pure of Wichita.

I have purchased bottles from Eco Pure several times in the past, which I have used for water storage and for making our Communion wine.  Their charge is a very reasonable price.

Today I called as I have a neighbor whose water was shut off by the city of Wichita and he cannot afford to have it turned on again.  Thus he is having to use bottles to lug water from a neighbor, but he had only one bottle.  Chelsey at Eco Pure promised to find a couple of bottles that I could give to my neighbor to help him to get by.  When I arrived at the office, to my surprise, she had two full bottles prepared as well as two cases of bottled water to give to my neighbor.  He was excitedly grateful for the kindness shown by Chelsey and Eco Pure.  I am delighted to observe this kind generosity on their part.  Now my dear neighbor will not need to lug water for a few days and will be more efficiently able in the future.

I was planning to pick up the bottles and to fill them for him from our reverse osmosis water filter.  But Chelsey saved me the extra effort, and made it possible for me to make the water available to him immediately.

My neighbor was and is very excitedly grateful.  Now the bad weather is less of a factor for him as he can obtain his water in a larger quantity when inclement weather is not a threat.

Thank you Chelsey and thank you Eco Pure!

And of course, thanks be to God for His grace manifested through the generous gifts given and received.

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Not So Strong ...

In the article posted below, Decepticon Invasion, I share my feeling disturbed by the progression of invasive technology used in deceptive ways.  Why should this disturb a man like myself?

I am helpless to defend myself and my wife from home invasion and theft by a computerized robotic calling system.  I am unable to defend against the many forms of rape that are continually being foisted upon our society by big government, big corporations, big pseudo-churches, and the like.  I am unable to protect myself and my wife from disrespectful, discourteous, and selfishly unsafe drivers on the road.  At every turn I encounter the evidence that I really am not so strong as some may think or that I may wish to be.

This is why the True Church of the pure Gospel and Sacraments is absolutely indispensable for me.  I cannot live without the holy catholic Church on earth, the communion of saints, the Church congregated by the calling of the Holy Spirit to the pure means of grace.  These pure means of grace are my only source of peace in a world where peace is a byword used by those who promote war and murder and rape in the name of winning peace.  The peace that the Lord provides is more powerful than the most terrifying enemy.  Even the power of Death itself is swallowed up by the peace of God poured out to me through the means of God’s grace.

Yes, I must confess my own weakness and helplessness.  No matter how hard I try to be strong, I fall short of even simple and easy goals.  My patience falls short.  My love is faltering.  My faith is nonexistent.  But the Lord’s patience is without limit.  His love never fails.  The Faith that He gives truly commands the mountains of my sin and failure and unfaithfulness to throw themselves into the sea of His forgiveness and mercy and grace.

If my own sin cannot attain victory over me on account of His grace poured out to me through His ordained means, what cause do I have to fear on account of the smallness of my own strength?

This is why for me and my house compromise of the pure doctrine of God’s grace in Christ is not considered to be in any way acceptable.  How can we partake of a communion/church where such compromise is tolerated and even embraced?  No, our confidence is the Lord.  His Word, declared through His Scriptures, administered through His ordained means, this is our confidence, our everlasting and unfailing hope, our very life.  When we turn from these, even momentarily we do indeed become fearful.  But when in His grace the Lord calls us back again we do truly know and abide in the peace that surpasses all understanding and guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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Is this Cool, or What?

My wife sent me this link with the video that shows below: iPhone 5 with “Rubberband” Electronics Turns into iPad mini [Concept Video].




Wow!

Is there any other immediate response that one would expect upon first viewing this?

Of course, no such device actually exists.  But the animation is fantastic.

Do people think beyond the “Wow” moment after viewing this video?  Do people consider how short the durability of such a gadget will be?

Do people consider at all how this sort of video is programming their thinking?

The music chosen is powerful.  It creates the immediate sense of something heroic being accomplished.  It leaves a person feeling as though the creation of this gadget is going to accomplish liberation and empowerment of the people who own them.

If one really considers what these gadgets are designed to accomplish, the exact opposite purpose will be perceived.  They are designed to make people more dependent upon the already failing cellular networks.  They are designed to bind people to these tracking devices.

Notice what is being taught about genuine customer service where a person can expect to have actual contact with another person and obtain real help when things go awry.  We are being taught even in this video that such personal interaction will no longer be available and that a computer will tell us what we can and will do.  Don’t bother calling.  All that you will receive is an extended litany of harassing, preprogrammed automation.

All of our personal information will be (and is) stored in a massive data base which will be immediately accessible to those who have the right connections.

In the meantime, the smaller independent businesses are being eliminated and real jobs are evaporating.  Freedom to operate and function independently is being eliminated.  Thinking that stretches beyond what is promoted by those who have predetermined the new societal programming is diminishing.

Thus the title for this post is: “Is this cool, or what?” with the emphasis on the “or what.”

Do most people even ask “or what” anymore?

I find it alarming to realize that if I drive away from the house without my cell phone that my first thought is that I should drive back to get it, even if I am only going to the store to purchase a gallon of milk.  This has actually happened on a couple of occasions recently.  I was aghast when I heard myself think, “Oh, what will I do?  What if I need to call Stephanie with a question?”  For crying out loud!  I was only to be away for 15 minutes or perhaps half of an hour!

Yikes!  I’ve been programmed!

And this is only a tiny example of the social programming that is prevalent in society today.

Perhaps it is time for people to stand back a bit to gain a broader perspective and to begin asking the “or what” and not merely allowing the reflex response of “Wow!  How cool!”


The Lord Jesus gave a very powerful warning:

     No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.  (Matthew 6:24)

Mammon is treasure, things, possessions.

What happens when mammon becomes one’s god?  What happens when a person becomes dependent upon and puts one’s trust in mammon?  Does one not subject oneself and willingly make oneself the slave of the things that one loves?

Furthermore, who in this world controls these things, these gadgets and the networks through which they are connected?

Are these not questions that people would do well to ask themselves?

I myself find it amazing that so many people are afraid of being enslaved to God and religion but eagerly enslave themselves to welfare and other government assistance, to gadgetry and those who sell and control the gadgetry, to social media, to health care providers, to insurance companies, to Social Security payments, and to employers who provide benefit packages.  All of these demand subjugation and servitude.  They all offer very low levels of security.  And, they all ultimately fail those who give them their trust.

Yet God, the Lord, who makes Himself known through the Scriptures and through His means of grace, gives freely even to those who refuse to trust Him.  He makes His sun to shine and His rain to fall for both the just and the unjust.  He gave His Son for the sake of the entire world, even those who would reject and hate Him and work against all of the good that He desires to provide for all.  He promises a life of hope and peace and contentment and joy to all who trust Him and receive His grace as He gives it. What is His demand?  He demands that we receive His gifts and His mercy and His love through the means that He has established, means that guarantee that the true giver is acknowledged so that His beloved do not cut themselves off from Him and the life that He gives.

Oh my.  What a meanie!  “Trust Me and receive My gifts and life as I give them so that you remain in the safety of my Communion.”  Oh what a tyrant!

Yet those who do trust Him and abide in His Word, acknowledging the goodness of His commands and precepts, do indeed enjoy what He promises to work through them.  Even those who do not truly know Him and do not truly live in His Communion, when they embrace what is taught in the Commandments and other declarations of what is good, they do indeed experience the goodness therein proclaimed.  Such is the way of this God and His decrees.  What He says is.  What He promises actually is observed.  And this efficacious way is everlasting.

Test this with a cell phone or other gadgetry.  Test this with your own feelings.  Test this with your own bodily strength.  Test this with your own mental prowess.  Test this with the health care industry.  Test this with your government and leaders.  Test this with your family and friends.  Test this with your whatever.

As for myself, I know that the Lord is faithful.  He never fails.  Even when I imagine that He fails, I eventually see that His promise in Romans 8 is true:

     And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to   his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate   to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. What shall we then say to these things? If God   be for us, who   can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?  (Romans 8:28-32)

I may not always perceive the good that the Lord is working, especially through the hardships and suffering that I face.  For sometimes the good is being worked for someone else, someone who observes from a distance the faithfulness of the Lord in preserving me through the fiery trials that I face.  Sometimes the lessons that I learn I do not realize that I have learned.  Yet the good has been worked for me, most especially the good of not losing hope and not despairing completely and the good of not becoming the monster that I would otherwise become.  Looking to the Lord and waiting upon Him in faith is truly a great and even immeasurable good.

For me, this is the “or what” that is truly exciting!  This is the gift that truly stretches to cover all of my needs through faith.  It especially stretches to cover my most essential need, the need for forgiveness and the new life of holiness that exists only in true communion with Christ.  In Him my guilt and my shame and my fears are drowned and washed away and replaced with confidence and freedom to live with hope and joy.

Why would I ever trade this for the temporal mammon that fails?



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Help Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive

I imagine that you received one of these in the mail, too.

The program is presented at Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive™.

On the surface, this appears to be a very noble effort and cause.  Surely the providing of food for those who are hungry is a noble endeavor that I support wholeheartedly.  Yet I did not do so through this particular program.

Why not?

For starters, my wife and I are at an income level that would qualify us for the food stamp or “vision” food assistance program.  But this really is not a factor, as we do give food and help to others, only not through “programs.”  Unless, of course, one counts the government programs paid for through the money that the government and the FED steal from us.  But then, that money is not actually used to help people, nor even to pay for the government’s budgeted items.  That money goes to the FED.  The actual programs and budget are never actually paid as the government just borrows more money from the FED for these.

But to the real reasons that we do not give to such programs as this by the postal carriers, first consider the companies for whom they advertise.  Yes, this program is an advertisement for the companies and products displayed both on the post card and on the web site.  Of those listed, besides the USPS itself, we do not support any of these companies nor their products.  Of the products shown as examples in the Food Drive bag, not one product is one that we consider safe for eating.  We do not buy any of these products because of the food additives (toxins) contained within them.  Every one of these is loaded with processed glutamates and other toxins.  We do not buy these or similar products for ourselves and we will not give them to others.  Moreover, every one of the displayed items are overpriced.

Moreover, we have no real knowledge of the workings of this organization.  What we clearly can see from their post card and web site is that they promote companies and products and organizations that we do not support.

Additionally, to whom is the credit given for these donated items?  Is the love of God in any way declared to the recipients of our gifts if we donate to this organization?  Is our own love (generated in us through God’s love at work in us) in any way directly shared with those who will receive these items?  Do those who receive these receive them as gifts of love from us, or are these gifts portrayed as coming through this organization that promotes things that we actually oppose on account of the harm that these companies, products, and organizations cause or promote both to people and society?  How many of these groups even openly oppose the Gospel and Christ’s Church?

Then also, is the false notion presented by the program that by giving a bag of food items that the problem of hunger is being stamped out or eliminated.  This is a scam and a farce.  The problem of hunger is not one of people having no food available, but one of their means of providing for themselves being stolen from them by the very companies and government promoting this program!  The poor will always be among us, but in this nation with all of its blessings, all of its resources, all of its technology, all of its capable people, most of whom are willing to work, hunger and homelessness should not be a rampant problem.  The problem is being manufactured or perpetrated upon our people by those who have been entrusted with protecting us.

When we buy into the notion that through a non-committal form of helping, that through giving a bag of canned goods to be picked up by the letter carriers to be given to a massive distribution center, that through this hunger is being stamped out, this is nothing more than hypocrisy.  This is a “washing of one’s hands” of the problem.

Certainly the giving of such gifts is a good effort.  But if this is the end of it, then it really amounts to nothing more than attempting to excuse oneself of the responsibility of true love for neighbor and brother.  Cain falsely cried, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”  Cain brought gifts or offerings to the Lord in this same way, as an act of obligation and not an act that flowed from true love of God.  Abel acted in response to God’s love working in him so that his acts were also acts of love toward God and toward all.  Cain actually rose up in anger and killed his brother on account of this disparity.  When we throw a few canned goods at the needy, and turn a blind eye to how our programs and leaders and corporations and banking system are destroying their hope of independence and productivity, are we really doing any differently than Cain?  Are we not also murdering our brother?

If indeed we truly want to stamp out hunger, if indeed we do count ourselves as our brother’s keepers, should be not be seeking to stamp out the causes of hunger rather than merely throwing a few cans at the hungry and telling them to go back out into the streets and the unemployment lines?  Shouldn’t we be stamping out political parties that speak of effecting change and acting conservatively, while actually promoting the status quo of this unjust and ungodly abuse of widows and orphans and other struggling people?  At the current rate, how long will it be before we are those at whom these cans are being thrown?

“Here, have a bag of canned goods and go away.”

To turn to use of a pun, is this not food for thought?

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No Food, No Water, No Help for Homeless

Feeding The Homeless BANNED In Major Cities All Over America reports on the fact that cities in the USA are passing ordinances and using absurd reasons for stopping caring citizens from helping their neighbors.

City puts a stop to homeless outreach reports that one couple who were helping their hungry neighbors were forced to stop by the city of Houston. The excuse given was that they had to have a permit and “To get that permit, the food must be prepared in a certified kitchen with a certified food manager.”

Here in Wichita not long ago the Lord’s Diner was not allowed to expand to establish a new center for free suppers for the hungry because these undesirable people were not wanted in the neighborhood. (See previous post The Lord’s Diner.)

At Church Ordered to Stop Giving Away Free Water it is reported that Hope Church in Metairie, LA was given a warning citation and forced to stop giving out free water to people in a Mardi Gras parade. They purchased bottled water and were giving it away for free, and they were forced to stop.

Among the cities listed as restricting and regulating feeding of people is my home town of Orlando, Florida. Orlando Activists Arrested For Feeding Homeless In Defiance Of City Ordinance shares the story. The story shares that “An editorial in the Orlando Sentinel supported with the court's decision this morning. They note that "at least 10 organizations regularly serve food to the hungry downtown" without defying the law.”

Big Surprise! The Orlando Sentinel supports big government bureaucratic control. The activist group, Food Not Bombs, is probably a group with whom I have huge points of disagreement. Perhaps their activities do fill the park to such a degree that it causes interference, but I seriously doubt it. I have walked that park many times. I have gone to the park at night to visit with those who were interested in hearing the Gospel. I have encountered the “bums” and have given food and assistance to at least a few. Would I be arrested today for these activities? Probably not, as I was not setting up to help large numbers of people and so the city bureaucrats likely would not think that I was helping enough people to be counted as a problem. But if I were to set up a table with several people helping me to give out food and drink, I would have to obtain a permit and could only obtain one twice per year, according to this report.

Some people are homeless by choice. Others have been put on the streets by the bureaucrats and bankers. Now these wonderful people are limiting who may help others, who may be helped, and are imposing permit fees for doing so. Permits always have a fee/tax.

What happens when people become desperate on account of hunger? What happens when some of the homeless try to obtain food by stealing and perhaps hurt someone and are arrested and imprisoned. Will people then say, as in the post below, that these prisoners should be used for experiments and even for organ harvesting for the wealthy? If the folk from Food Not Bombs violate the Orlando ordinance to the point of being imprisoned, will they become involuntary organ donors?

Perhaps someone will say: “Stop being ridiculous!”

Ridiculous? Who would have believed thirty years ago that it would be illegal to give food or water to a hungry or thirsty neighbor? Who would have believed thirty years ago that there would be web sites advertising the sale of body parts from babies, as is shown in the post below? Who would have believed thirty years ago that something like the NDAA would be passed that allows people to be arrested without being charged, to be held indefinitely at the whim of the government bureaucrats?

Ridiculous? Thirty years ago most people would have said so regarding much of what is now commonplace.

There has been abuse and injustice since that sad day in Eden. Horrible things have been done by unbelieving and false believing people ever since. Selfishness and greed have largely prevailed throughout the history of the human race. Certain groups of people have been mistreated simply because of their ethnicity or their place in society. This is not something new in the history of the world.

But is this what we want to allow, especially in the USA? Shall we allow displays of genuine love for and kindness toward fellow man to be made a crime? Has it ever happened before, even in America? It seems so as we examine our past. But shall we continue in this pattern and perhaps even to a worse degree today?

It truly is alarming to me that we are allowing the bankers and big money people first to bankrupt the entire nation and then to take people’s homes from them and then to criminalize both being homeless and then also being kind to those whom the government and banks have made to be criminals. How can it be that today we can actually be punished for being kind and loving to others?

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Happy Refrigerator

Friday evening Stephanie went to our refrigerator to put away some items and discovered that it had quit working. The frozen food was mostly thawed. We scrambled to move the food items to the backup refrigerator that we purchased a year ago. Yes, Stephanie knew that our aging refrigerator could give out and snapped up an inexpensive used one.

We called our friend at Abel’s Appliance yesterday, Alan Meyer. He is a delightful fellow who views his life as one of service in the name of the Lord. He intentionally works to keep his prices affordable. He does not even charge special “emergency” or “weekend” fees.

Today I forgot to ask for a new business card, as we conversed over many matters of the faith as they are declared in the Scriptures. But I do have one of his older cards to display until I obtain a newer one. This one was an older card when I received it years ago. Today, rather than 16 years of experience he has 31 years of experience.

The writing at the top is mine as I wanted to have his name handy. Thankfully, our need for appliance repair is infrequent enough that I need to have my memory refreshed or else I forget his name. Thus I wrote it for my frail memory’s sake.

Our refrigerator is working again and our bank account was not severely depleted. Moreover, even my spirit was refreshed through the opportunity to visit again with a very dear man and friend.

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God Bless You for Your Goodness

Saturday evening, I went to retrieve my T-post puller from the chipper truck so as to be able to replace the broken top bar/lever and as I put it into the cab of my pickup I tore a hole in the headliner. Boo hoo.

Then I went to Blockbuster to pick up a couple of free videos. From there I went to Braums to buy the gallon of milk that Stephanie requested.

As I drove into the parking lot I observed a frail looking man hobbling toward the sidewalk beside the store building. He very cautiously toppled over onto the raised sidewalk. I parked the truck and walked over toward him asking as I walked whether he was alright. He was half lying and half sitting, bracing himself with his arm. He informed me that he was not hurt. Then he looked up and said that he was staying in a motel about two blocks away. Furthermore he informed me that he had no money but could use a sandwich and milk.

I knew when I walked to him that I was setting myself up, but I had to check. I did not want to buy this man’s supper. I told him, I don’t have any spare money either . . . I cannot afford these things for myself . . . but I’ll get you something to eat.

I asked him, “Can you manage to walk into the store to pick out a sandwich.” He replied, “Yes, I can do that.”

He truly had difficulty walking. He told me that his legs cramp badly. I asked him what caused his legs to cramp. I could not tell whether he said “AIDS” or “Age.” I asked again. I still could not understand. Then he added that he was 68 years old. The cause of his cramps did not really matter, but I cared about his condition, and wondered whether anything could help him.

His hands were as thin as the rest of his body and were covered with callouses, but not the kind that my hands have from hard and abusive work. His callouses were the kind that people have from sleeping and living in harsh weather.

According to my flesh, I did not want to help this man. I have been taken advantage of many, many, many times. Now I was going to spend more on him than I spend on myself in a week. I did not really want to help him, but I had no choice. My heart, or more accurately, the one who lives in my heart, overruled my selfishness and fearfulness.

The fact is that if I did as I really want, I would do nothing else than go around helping people. But I have little resources left to utilize. I have spent myself and my resources, and also my wife’s. And so, I tend to think that I need to protect myself and my wife from what the Spirit moves me to desire. I find myself relying not upon the Lord but upon my own false presumptions.

But the Lord’s love lives in me and is greater than my lack of love, and so this man and I walked slowly to the entrance to the store/restaurant. I cannot remember whether or not I asked the man his name.

As we walked, he said, “God will bless you for your goodness.”

I responded with a bit of a smile, “God has blessed me. He blesses me even though I do not do well.”

He said, “Yes. Yes, of course.”

As we entered, the little eating booths were near and he approached the closest one and sat down. I asked what kind of sandwich he would like. He shrugged his shoulders. I asked whether he wanted a warm sandwich or a cold one, and he said that a cold one would be fine. I said that I did not know where those were kept, and again he shrugged. I inquired regarding the kind of milk that he would like me to purchase for him. We buy the skim milk, that has not been corrupted through homogenization, so I asked first whether he would like skim milk. He preferred the homogenized, and requested a half gallon. I did not find the cold sandwiches and thought, “He really does not need a cold sandwich. A hot sandwich would be much better.” And again I also shrank back at the thought that it would cost more money, too.

I went back and told him that I could not find the cold sandwiches, but perhaps he would enjoy a nice burger instead. His eyes lit up a bit and he said that would be nice. So I went and ordered him a third pound deluxe cheese burger, and then went to select the milk. By the time I paid for the milk the sweet counter clerk had given him his burger and it was half consumed. I went to him and gave him his milk.

He turned and thanked me repeatedly with statements of “God bless you” and the like. He reached out to hug me saying, “I love you,” and more blessings. As I bent over and hugged him I told him, “I love you, too.” As we hugged, I saw a dried and crumpled leaf fall to the floor, a leaf that he likely picked up from lying on the ground.

He again told me that he was staying two blocks away, from which I did not know quite what to understand. As he was not done eating, I only thought of his need for time to finish and did not even think that he may have been telling me more. Besides, I feared what more he could be implying. I “kindly” reminded him to be careful crossing the street.

At the time, it was a genuine comment of care, and I think that it was even spoken innocently. But what was he really telling me?

Afterwards I thought of much more. Here was a man who was barely able to walk into the store. Why did I not offer to wait and take him to his motel?

Moreover, whom did this man have? He apparently is all alone in the world. Was he asking for someone to be with him for a little while?

This man thanked me for what I did. But I did not even tell him about the love of God in Christ. I did not even tell him about the life that Christ purchased for him. With Christmas only week away, I did not even speak of the good news of the birth of God in the flesh to save us. Instead, I left him with thoughts of what a kind and loving man he perceived me to be.

What a load of crap!

I cried when I came home and realized more fully how selfishly I acted. Here was a hurting and lonely man who may not have lived another day. I had the bread of life and the Lord’s righteousness to give to him and I gave him the filth of my “righteousness.” I gave him a burger and some milk and hug and a mere snippet of the Gospel.

Two days later my eyes still fill with tears and I choke as I ponder this.

Over my lifetime I have helped many people. I have paid for motel bills for weeks on end. I have paid medical bills. I have taken people to the hospital and to doctors and sometimes paid their bills. I have shared the Gospel, the pure Gospel with many such people, only to have most of them become angry and some even to curse me, when I said that I had no more money to give.

And so I have become sometimes jaded and hard of heart, or at least not as eager and willing to be used and abused.

Yet I know that I cannot be the helper of the entire world. I can only give what I have received. I have God given responsibilities to my wife, to be home at a reasonable hour, to attempt to provide for our financial needs, to be available to her, etc.

In the end, a person has to say with Luther:

     If you are a preacher of grace, then preach a true and not a fictitious grace; if grace is true, you must bear a true and not a fictitious sin. God does not save people who are only fictitious sinners. Be a sinner and sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly, for he is victorious over sin, death, and the world. As long as we are here [in this world] we have to sin. This life is not the dwelling place of righteousness, but, as Peter says, we look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. It is enough that by the riches of God’s glory we have come to know the Lamb that takes away the sin of the world. No sin will separate us from the Lamb, even though we commit fornication and murder a thousand times a day. Do you think that the purchase price that was paid for the redemption of our sins by so great a Lamb is too small? Pray boldly—you too are a mighty sinner.

People love to quote this from Luther apart from the greater context. But for those who are struggling with the reality that “all of our righteousness are as filthy rags,” this is blessed comfort. It certainly is not an excuse to choose to sin. It is, however, redemption, as we all learn that even our best intentions and best efforts are still corrupt and fall short of the glory of God. The merits of Christ are what make our deeds to be counted as righteousness.

And so we may go forth in true faith and “sin boldly” with our Spirit led consciences, doing good in as much as we are able, trusting not in these for any merit, but looking only to the merits of Christ which are accounted as ours through the faith that the Holy Spirit gives us in Baptism.

Since this is so easily misunderstood and often misapplied, a brief additional word of explanation. For example, a Christian may offer gentle and holy counsel to a hurting person of the opposite sex. That person, moved by the love that is demonstrated can begin to feel attraction to the lover. That attraction can begin to move toward sexual desire, which then tempts both persons to fornication in their hearts. And so the good and loving efforts become sinful thoughts.

Moreover, since we are by nature sinners, everything that we think, say, and do is corrupt.

Our only hope is Jesus and His merits that are accounted to us for His sake within the sanctity of His Holy Communion. To this we flee from our “good works” as well as what is more easily recognized as sin. And so we do our corrupt “good works” boldly, even though even the best of them are still impure and damning according to their own worth, trusting in Christ and His redemption alone.

And in this, while we continue to learn to trust Christ more and more fully for our redemption, we also learn to trust Him again and again as we grow fearful and jaded and thereby hindered from even those things that we would be moved by God’s love to do. We then in faith go forward, not looking back to our past failings, nor fearing our present and future failings, but trusting in God’s grace in Christ we “sin boldly,” giving thanks to God for His merciful goodness. How wonderful it is to realize that we have this doctrine declared in the Athanasian Creed, teaching us that the catholic faith is this very doctrine that at the last day our failures will be counted as good works in accord with this faith given by the Holy Spirit, even though all stand as condemned according to their own works apart from this faith in what Christ has earned for us.

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An additional realization:

This man said, likely unaware of the greater meaning, “God will bless you for your goodness.”

Actually, he was entirely correct, since Christ is my goodness. Indeed, with Christ as my goodness, God does bless me for His sake.

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Fighting Addictions

      “Fighting Addictions” is a very suitable title for this topic as it can be received from two different perspectives. The first that a person is likely to receive is the notion of a person who strives to fight against an addiction or addictions. The second is the perception that the addiction or addictions actually fight against the person, both in the effects and affects of the addiction as well as in the resistance to freedom from the addictions.

      This matter cries out for and even demands that a working definition be given. Psychology Today provides a definition that is reasonably accurate entitled What Is Addiction? .

      I will reproduce it here for ease of study:

What Is Addiction?

Addiction is a condition that results when a person ingests a substance (alcohol, cocaine, nicotine) or engages in an activity (gambling) that can be pleasurable but the continued use of which becomes compulsive and interferes with ordinary life responsibilities, such as work or relationships, even health. Users may not be aware that their behavior is out of control and causing problems for themselves and others.

The word addiction is used in several different ways. One definition describes physical addiction. This is a biological state in which the body adapts to the presence of a drug so that drug no longer has the same effect; this is known as tolerance. Because of tolerance, there is a biological reaction when the drug is withdrawn. Another form of physical addiction is the phenomenon of overreaction by the brain to drugs (or to cues associated with the drugs). An alcoholic walking into a bar, for instance, will feel an extra pull to have a drink because of these cues.

However, most addictive behavior is not related to either physical tolerance or exposure to cues. People compulsively use drugs, or gamble or shop, nearly always in reaction to being emotionally stressed, whether or not they have a physical addiction. Since these psychologically based addictions are not based on drug or brain effects, they can account for why people frequently switch addictive actions from one drug to a completely different kind of drug, or even to a non-drug behavior. The focus of the addiction isn't what matters; it's the need to take action under certain kinds of stress. To treat this kind of addiction requires understanding of how it works psychologically.

No matter which kind of addiction is meant, it is important to recognize that its cause is not a search for pleasure, and addiction has nothing to do with one's morality or strength of character. Experts debate whether addiction is a "disease" or a true mental illness, whether drug dependence and addiction mean the same thing, and many other aspects of addiction. Such debates are not likely to be resolved soon. But the lack of resolution does not preclude effective treatment.

      This definition is as close as the pseudo-sciences will allow. Psychology as it currently functions is entirely bogus as those who practice it do not even acknowledge what the name teaches. Psychology means Soul-knowledge. Yet psychologists and psychiatrists do not even count the soul in their attempts to “help” people with their soul-knowledge issues.

      Nevertheless, this definition does give a good starting point for understanding addiction. The third paragraph is perhaps the most helpful. It comes very close to the real issue for people and their addictions. The term addictive behavior draws very near to the truth, but still falls short. This is because psychologists are unable to deal with the fact that our addictions are our fault.

      We are responsible for the choices that we make. Addictive behavior is a choice. In many cases this choice may be made without understanding the “why” of the choice, but it is nevertheless a choice. Moreover, it is a conscious choice. It may become so habitual that it appears to be an unconscious choice, but it is a conscious choice nevertheless.

      The above definition in the third paragraph comes amazingly close to the truth in saying, “People compulsively use drugs, or gamble or shop, nearly always in reaction to being emotionally stressed, whether or not they have a physical addiction.” This comes very close, so close in fact, that some of the benefits of the truth are actually experienced in limited ways. But the freedom of the truth resides in the truth.

      The following statement shows where this understanding falls short:

      The focus of the addiction isn't what matters; it's the need to take action under certain kinds of stress. To treat this kind of addiction requires understanding of how it works psychologically.

      The focus of the addiction IS what matters. The problem with psychology is that it has divorced itself from that which has need of healing. Without addressing the needs of the soul, freedom from addiction cannot be achieved. Without addressing the needs of the soul, the problem cannot even be rightly understood.

      These psychologists rightly identify emotional stress as a stimulus that triggers a response. But emotional stress is not the real cause of compulsive behavior and addiction. Neither is the focus of addiction “the need to take action under certain kinds of stress.” The focus of addiction is the perception of a need to take action to satisfy a sense of a need that is not understood.

      So what really is the focus of addiction? The focus of addiction is fulfilment. Because of our sinful nature and the inescapable awareness of our incomplete and corrupted image, we feel empty. The true image in which God created us is no longer ours. The holiness of God is vacant. In times of emotional stress we feel this emptiness to such a degree that we become desperate for relief and so we seek to fill the vacuum with something, anything.

      Alcohol and other drugs, sexual activity, sexual experimentation, alternative sexuality, horror movies, thrill seeking and extreme sports, exercise, working for success, hoarding, sadism, abuse of self or others, dieting, overindulging, all of these and many others have been used and abused in attempts to fill the emptiness that sinful humans feel in their souls. The list is as vast as the human imagination. Anything that a person imagines to have satiating value may be pursued.

      It seems that of the most powerful are the sexual addictions. Sexual addictions are expressions of our perverted perspective. Since Adam cut us off from the image of God, which is Christ, we continually search for ways to restore this wholeness. Our perception of self has been perverted so that we cannot see the person whom God created us to be. What we most long for is to be restored to the holy communion of God with Man and Man with fellow Man.

      God created mankind with a holy desire for this communion, this interconnectedness, this unity of being. But sin divorced us from God and the Life that is only in Him. This separation is felt in our very being, in our soul. This is how the Scriptures speak of our existence.

      And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. (Genesis 2:7)

      God created us to be full of His presence, that we should live in Him. He created us in His image, in His unity, with His own holy desires and will. And the need for this fullness is felt in our soul. We still feel the attractions to God and to one another, although those have become corrupted and perverted. Moreover, these attractions in some ways may actually be felt more powerfully since we cannot find their fulfillment or complete satisfaction.

      Furthermore, we no longer rightly understand the attractions that we have. We were created as sexual beings, to have attractions that would lead to being united in the flesh with another person, that a man and a woman should be joined as one flesh. This is a powerful attraction. And since our understanding of this has been corrupted, we do not rightly understand what we feel. But it is part of who we are. It is who we are. That is why we feel it so strongly. Ignoring it does not make it go away.

      But our attractions to others are not limited to our sexuality. We are designed to desire to be one with all of mankind. And so we feel attraction to all other people. But since sexual attraction develops to such a powerful level as we grow, it becomes our default attraction. And so, when we feel attracted to others, we often become confused and imagine that all attraction is sexual attraction. This is even more pronounced when we prolong singleness unnaturally. God designed us to marry quite young. Our bodies develop and the hormonal activity develops and we feel the powerful drives of these hormones. When these are ignored or suppressed, a person can become obsessed with them. Except for a very few people, God designed us to be united with someone in marriage.

      This being core to our existence, when we feel attractions to others, we can confuse these with our sexual feelings. A man will naturally feel attracted to another man, even feeling a strong desire to express connectedness with that man, and this can be misinterpreted as a desire for sexual interaction. The two attractions are very closely related and thus in our perverted sinful existence we sometimes confuse them. This is why some people think that homosexuality is a genetic condition. And it actually is, because we all are born with it. We all have these attractions and we all have the tendency to confuse them and misinterpret them.

      And this is true with alcohol and drugs and work and play and thrill seeking and anything else that we may choose to utilize in an attempt to fill the emptiness that we feel on account of our sin-separation from God’s holy communion with Him and with the rest of mankind.

      This leads us to consider the answer to this dilemma.

      Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. (Ephesians 5:17-21)

      This is the answer. This is the solution. It is the only solution.

      But this solution is only available in God’s Holy Communion. The world naturally scoffs at this because this answer is spiritually discerned. The worldling’s are dead and are unable to discern these things. Apart from being regenerated through water and spirit into the kingdom of God, apart from the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, the solution to our emptiness and resultant addictions cannot be perceived.

      But for those who are in Christ, those whom God has brought again into the reconciliation that He accomplished in the body of Christ, this makes perfect sense and provides the fulfillment that is needed. This is the answer to our addictions. We need to recognize our addictions for what they are, foolish attempts to take action for ourselves rather than turning to the One who has the power to take action for us.

      God has provided the means for our salvation and justification and sanctification. He has provided the means by which He promises to fulfill our needs of body and soul. This is what St. Paul explains in the quotation above. If we acknowledge our emptiness we can then also acknowledge the source of our fulfillment. If we acknowledge our emptiness, we will turn to God and hear His Word of promise and be filled by the Spirit who answers our pleas and comforts us and restores us to wholeness again. Being filled with the Spirit begins in our baptism. Once the Spirit has been given to us and has taken up residence in us, He continually calls to us to be gathered into the Holy Communion to partake of the Supper of God’s Communion. This refreshes us and renews us in the true faith and in the forgiveness of our sins and in the new life that is in the image of God, that is, in Christ.

      Then, having been so refreshed and renewed, we go forth into our daily activities, carrying with us the divine liturgy by which we were refreshed and renewed together. We continue, being filled with the Spirit we continue to speak to ourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in our hearts to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; submitting ourselves one to another in the fear of God.

      This is the answer. We need to ask ourselves: “With what are we seeking to be filled?”

      When we feel the emptiness and the urge for fulfilment, where do we turn?

      Have you ever tried to think of doing what you know to be wrong while engaging the Lord through prayer and psalms and hymns and spiritual songs? It is not possible. Now it is possible for hypocrites to do this, but not for one who is filled with the Spirit. This is why St. Paul concludes this by bringing it all together with “submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.”

      This is not merely what is commonly understood as fellowship. This is communion, and not a communion of men, but the communion of God into which the Holy Spirit carries us and unites us. This means that we are in a communion where the means of grace are rightly administered in conjunction with the preaching of the pure Gospel. God’s communion is not like the fellowships of men. God’s communion is built upon the purity of the Holy Trinity and the means of grace that He administers. He administers His means of grace in perfect purity and they have the effects that He has ordained.

      So, when we find ourselves enticed toward one of our addictions, what is the answer? Our immediate response will be to turn to the Lord in prayer. Additionally we will begin reciting the liturgy, with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. These will keep us looking to the Lord until He brings us safely to the gathering of the saints where we submit to one another in the fear of God and receive again the refreshment of the Holy Communion.

      It works just as God has promised.

      One more thing needs to be stated. God’s complete answer, even as St. Paul states it, is even better yet. God’s answer is not that we react to our addictions in this way, but that we continue in this way always. But temptations do come. The Lord assures us that they will come until the Last Day. And thus we will stray from the continual use of the liturgy and will need to be called back to it again. And God promises so to do. Thanks be to God that our salvation does not depend upon our faithfulness, but upon God’s faithfulness! And He cannot be otherwise.

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This article is available with additional information, including comments on the blessing of Confession and Absolution, at the Bride of Christ web site as an HTML file or as a PDF file.

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Cricket TXTM8 3G A410 by ZTE

Help for people owning a Cricket TXTM8 3G A410 by ZTE

If you have any problems or need help for your Cricket TXTM8 3G A410 by ZTE this is where both Cricket and ZTE place your customer service requests.

Don’t bother calling or e-mailing them, unless you enjoy extended wait times, being placed on hold for even longer periods, and finally receiving no intelligible answer or perhaps even an insult.

I purchased this phone in part because it was advertized as having a 2 Megapixel camera and as being Bluetooth Compatible. But it is not. It is only designed to connect to Bluetooth headphones and the like. Moreover, no driver is available for the USB port. Thus, unless a person purchases an SD mini card there is no way to upload the pictures to one’s computer. Even with an SD mini card one must remove the back of the phone, remove the battery, remove the mini card, so as to insert the card in a card reader.

However, I did discover a way to utilize the blue tooth on my computer. Perhaps this method will work for others as well. I find it easier to use this method than it is to disassemble and reassemble my phone each time. Moreover, if one does not have a mini card, this method works to upload the photos to the computer.

Here are the steps:

First, on the computer screen, click on the Bluetooth icon.

Next click on “Receive a File.”

The following Screen will appear:

Then access the phone screen menu and go to “Multimedia” and then to “My Pictures.” Then select the first picture that is to be uploaded via Bluetooth to the computer.

Click on “Send” and then select “Via Bluetooth”.

Then select the device/computer to which the connection is to be made.

After clicking on the selected device, the following screen will appear on the computer screen:

Here one may rename the file if desired and can select the directory to which the file is to be saved.

Clicking “Next” saves the file and brings up the following screen.

Clicking finish closes the screen and allows the process to be repeated for the next photo.

Of course, one must first create the Bluetooth link/connection/pairing on the computer and on the phone.

The process feels tedious, but I find it to be less troubling than tearing my phone apart each time that I wish to save a few photos.

Anyway, I thought that I would share my discovery for anyone who may benefit. I called Cricket and ZTE, emailed both, scoured the Internet, called multiple phone accessory providers, and found no answers from any of those sources. Other telephone manufacturers supply the necessary drivers and sometimes even supply software for synching with an address book or even with Outlook. The method above is what I learned through my very limited knowledge of this technology.

I hope that someone else may benefit as well.

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As an addendum, I should note that the local Cricket people either at the Cricket corporate store or at Chit Chat are not to blame for the lack of service provided nor the insulting attitudes. The disrespect shown to customers and the complete lack of concern for providing drivers that make the phones functional is at the company levels of Cricket and ZTE. Local representatives can only give what is provided, including information.

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Learning to say “No” Again

A few posts below is yesterday’s post entitled Learning to say “No”. Today I will address the other side of the coin, so to speak. While it most certainly is true that the Lord is able to supply whatever is needed so that one is enabled to help one’s neighbor when the Lord leads one so to do, is there ever a time when the Lord would have a person to say “No”? Another way of asking this is: Is it ever wrong to help one’s neighbor?

While this question may sound peculiar or even absurd, the answer is actually a very powerful YES. There are times when helping one’s neighbor can be contrary to God’s will.

For example, if one’s neighbor is robbing a convenience store. It would be wrong to help the neighbor to commit this crime, even if the neighbor is homeless and without food and shelter and is unable to obtain employment and has been turned away from every shelter and food pantry.

Another example, an example that may not seem quite so obvious, is when helping one’s neighbor causes one to steal from one’s spouse the devotion and commitment that the Lord commands. If I, for example, allow my helping of my neighbor to keep me from doing what my business requires for staying in business and paying the bills, I have robbed my wife, just as much as if I helped my neighbor rob the convenience store of money or goods would be stealing. Moreover, my customers are looking to me to help them, and they have a prior commitment from me. If I help my neighbor to such a degree that I do not fulfill my commitment to help my customers in a timely manner, I have robbed them.

So what do I do? My neighbor needs help. My customers need for me to fulfill my commitments. My wife needs for me to be a devoted husband and faithful provider.

How can I not fail? How can I keep from sinning through omission? How can I keep from neglecting someone?

The sad fact is that I cannot. My wife is very forgiving, as are my very kind customers, but that does not change the fact that I let them down with choices to elevate the needs of a needy neighbor above their needs. And, if I move the other direction and refuse to help a needy neighbor in order to fulfill my previous commitments, I still fail in helping my neighbor.

Either way I am wrong. Either way I sin.

This is the broken condition of the world ever since sin interrupted the Lord’s plan and design for us. This is why we cannot begin to be righteous by our own efforts and works. Moreover and even more importantly, all of our efforts and works are corrupted by our sinfulness. Even when we do good, it still is lacking in proper motive and love. Our sinfulness permeates our entire being as well as all of our thoughts, words, and deeds. This is why our only hope is Jesus. Jesus alone can save us for He alone is perfect. Our works can never make things right. Only His works make things right. Only His works merit salvation.

This is why Luther became so agitated regarding indulgences and other false doctrine regarding mingling one’s own works with the works of Christ in the desire to obtain merit before God, so that he challenged his fellow theologians with his Ninety-five Theses. On October 31, 1517 he nailed his theses to the church door, not realizing what fireworks would ensue. This little action was used by God to bring about a mighty change. Much of what Luther wrote was still terribly lacking, but his questions did open people’s eyes and hearts to realize that the Gospel by which we are saved is not about our works, but the works of God in Christ.

And this is how we are empowered to face each and every day. Knowing full well that none of our works are meritorious in any degree, we rise each morning and look to the Lord as our gracious God and Savior, trusting that He will work good for us and in us and through us despite our sinfulness. And we go forth boldly, knowing that even our best efforts are still corrupt and sinful, and yet reckoned by God as holy for Christ’s sake. And so, moved by God’s own love we help our neighbor knowing that we will sin against wife and customer. And sometimes, we refuse to help our neighbor, because we have obligations that simply must be fulfilled, and so we turn away our needy neighbor, at least for the time being. In every case, we trust God’s forgiveness and seek the leading of the Holy Spirit to direct us in our conscience and make the best decision that we are able and go forth and “sin boldly.” This does not mean that we willfully sin. It means that knowing that our actions cannot be without sin inhering to even our best efforts, we go forth in God’s grace, loving wife and customer and neighbor and trusting that for Christ’s sake our shortcomings are counted as full and holy and good. And so in the evening we again confess our sinfulness and beseech God’s merciful forgiveness for Christ’s sake and go to sleep in the assurance of the peace that only God can give.

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Learning to say “No”

In terms of putting my own needs first, looking out for my business first, I am a terrible businessman. To be successful in business, the model is that one counts the needs of his business as most important and people are secondary.

Yesterday, instead of going to do the job that I had planned to do, I responded to a former neighbor. He came and knocked on the door, as he is accustomed to doing, and told me his latest situation. He works as a janitor at the local university, working from 3pm to 11pm. He is hurting financially. His previous vehicle quit running and was repossessed, and after many months, he was able to purchase another used vehicle.

That vehicle served well until he came out to drive home and turning the ignition produced absolutely no results. Just a soft click. He tried calling his children and used up all of his minutes of air time leaving voice messages. Then he sat all night in the parking lot. In the morning he walked about seven and a half miles to my door and asked me to tow him home. I invested most of the day trying to help him.

The smart thing would be simply to say, “No, I can’t help you.”

But how can I say that. It would not be true. I actually carry a tow strap so that I can help people. How can I then say that I cannot help? I could say, “I don’t have the time.” But God gives me 24 hours in each day to utilize. I could say that my neighbor, or even former neighbor, is not my responsibility. I could say that people like this are just using me. But of course they are, that is the very meaning of asking for help.

Honestly, I do not want to learn to say “No” to those who are hurting and in need. That would be to deny the person God has regenerated me to be.

Yet a person does need to be respectful of his limitations. Moreover, one needs to be aware of financial limits. Yet, how can one who trusts in the Lord forget the record of what transpired in the wilderness?

And Moses said, The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand footmen; and thou hast said, I will give them flesh, that they may eat a whole month. Shall the flocks and the herds be slain for them, to suffice them? or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to suffice them? And the Lord said unto Moses, Is the Lord's hand waxed short? thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not. (Numbers 11:21-23)

When one in whom the fear of the Lord has been regenerated so that the person trusts the Lord and walks in His ways doing as the Spirit of God moves him, is it possible that the Lord will forget to provide the means to do as He has led the person to do? The God who brought all things into existence through the Logos, merely calling the universe into existence by His own Word and Will, can He not also provide the daily bread that we need?

No, I believe that I will continue to seek God’s merciful help in saying “No” to my own doubts and fears and selfishness and lack of compassion. Even better, I will continue to look to Jesus Christ in whom all of God’s promises are Yes and Amen.

But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea. For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. (2 Corinthians 1:18-22)

Surely I have limitations. But God does not and His mercy and goodness have no limitations either. Can one who believes this then turn away from a neighbor without showing the mercy and goodness that he himself has received of the Lord?

To this I very willingly say, “No.” Such is not possible. God’s mercy and love and goodness are greater than this.

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As a clarification, indeed there are times for saying "No" to the expectations, requests, or demands of others. But when the Lord moves one in one's heart to feel and show compassion, when a person responds to what appears to be a genuine need of another, this is right and good.

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FREE Directory Assistance

For those of us who must pinch every penny, there is a free directory assistance service available.

At 1-800-373-3411 a person can request a phone number for the mere cost of listening to some advertising. It takes a few moments, and the advertising style is slightly annoying, but for this minor inconvenience one can obtain the needed number without the exorbitant fees charged by the telephone companies, especially the mobile phone companies.

Anyway, I thought that I’d share the number for those who would like to use it. Again it is:

1-800-373-3411

Type O Negative Blood Needed

The following is from an American Red Cross E-mail:



Need for Type O Negative Blood Reaches Critical Levels

The supply of type O negative blood at the American Red Cross has dropped to critically low levels.

If you are a type O negative donor you can make the difference between an adequate blood supply and a summer shortage.

Type O negative blood is always in high demand because it can be transfused to patients with any blood type, especially in emergency situations.

While all blood types are needed during the critical summer months, the Red Cross urges those eligible donors with blood type O negative to make and keep appointments to give blood this summer.

We highly encourage all type O negative blood donors who meet the eligibility requirements to double the difference by becoming a double red cell donor. If eligible, you are able to give two donations at once.

Please call 1-800-RED CROSS or visit redcrossblood.org to find a convenient blood donation location and to schedule a lifesaving blood donation appointment.

Thank you from your Red Cross and the hospital patients we serve.

Winter Weather Increases Need for Blood

Red Cross Action Alert: Winter Weather Affects Donations

Snow and ice storms across the nation are to blame for numerous blood drive cancellations. Plus, poor driving conditions are keeping donors away from our blood donation centers.

As a result, the Red Cross is unable to collect and produce enough blood platelets. Platelets are the fragile cells that control bleeding and can be used by cancer patients and those undergoing chemotherapy.

Your platelet or whole blood donation will help us meet the needs of area hospital patients.

Please consider scheduling an appointment to give blood today. Call 1-800-RED CROSS or log on to redcrossblood.org.




(This notice is copied from an e-mail notice from the American Red Cross.)

Indigenous, Naturally Available Remedy

As I was reading this evening I was reminded of a circumstance from the past.

On one of the tree jobs that I worked, a tree removal in a cemetery, I was employed to remove a diseased tree that had grown next to a chain link fence. The area to fell the tree was, of course, full of tombstones and benches and statues. The tree had to be felled so as to do no damage to any of these.

The tree fell perfectly, landing exactly where I had planned. However, the curvature of the trunk was such that having hit the ground it forced the tree to bounce and to twist so that it bounced back at me. The trunk landed on my foot, slamming into my ankle and shin, pinning me against the fence and ground. I had a helper that day, and together we rocked the tree sufficiently to unpin my foot and leg.

My leg should have been shattered, but it was not. Whether the Lord sent an angel or simply prevented the bones from shattering, He prevented serious injury. However, my foot and leg began to swell badly. We could see the bruised area rise as it swelled.

First I thought, “How will I get ice for my leg?” We were at least half a mile from the cemetery office or any other facility. But it was winter and the ground was frozen with ice and snow all around. So I immediately hobbled to where the sun had shone and partially thawed some ice and soil, forming a small patch of icy mud. I rolled up my pant leg and stripped off the work boot and sock. Then I packed my foot and ankle in the icy mud for 15 to 20 minutes. We watched the swelling go down almost as quickly as it had risen.

Then I brushed away the mud pack, put on my sock and boot, and finished the job.

The point of sharing this story is to serve as a reminder that God provides the way, and if we are open to perceive it we receive it. God had provided for my rescue and healing through means that I ordinarily despise. But on this day I was very thankful that God had sent the wintry mix of ice and snow and frozen ground. He had already provided the means for my first aid before I had any notion of needing any aid. Without the frozen mud pack to apply with such rapidity, the swelling would have caused considerable damage, for which I would have needed days to heal.

Truly the Lord is our gracious Father who provides all that we need for this life and for the life to come. If we have proper fear of Him, then we fear not the things that sneak up on us in our daily walk, so that we remember His goodness and power and grace and we expect to see and hear and perceive what He has provided for us so as to make proper use of His providence.

Blood Donor News

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The American Red Cross sends out e-news letters to their blood donors with updated information about local needs for blood donations. In the latest news letter the following is stated:

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Who Can Receive My Blood?

At the Red Cross, we are often asked who can receive which blood types. This chart helps answer that question. Find your blood type in the left column. The blood drops to the right of it show which blood types can receive your blood. For example, if you are type AB+, then you can only give to other people with AB+ blood, but you can receive blood from all blood types. If you are O- you can give blood to people with any blood type, but you can only receive blood from people with O- blood.

Right Type

Blood typing is very important. When it comes to emergency situations, most people are given O- blood since people of all blood types can receive O- blood. Because of this, type O blood is in high demand and often in short supply. While O- is the universal donor for red blood cell products, AB- is the universal donor for plasma-containing products, including platelets.

In order to have the most blood available, we encourage people to do the "Right Type" of donation for their blood type to best fulfill the needs of hospital patients. People with O+, O-, B+ and B- blood should do a regular whole blood donation or a double red cell donation. Blood shortages often occur in these blood types. People with AB+, AB-, A+ and A- blood are encouraged to donate platelets.

When we make the best donation possible for our blood type, it helps ensure that the most compatible blood product is available for patients in need. The next time you make a donation, ask the staff more about what donation type is right for you!

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You can learn more about blood donation needs and the role of the American Red Cross at Blood is Needed and Blood Facts.

Antivirus and Firewall News

Firefox has an FAQ page regarding suggested Antivirus protection called Best Antivirus Software & Internet Security Software. On this page they link to PC Antivirus Reviews where very helpful reviews are posted regarding this group’s opinions regarding the best Antivirus software companies. PC Antivirus Reviews also provides discount coupons for the products that they review and suggest.

In the past I have used Norton and Zone Alarm. I have used Zone Alarm for quite a few years with good success. But in the last couple of years I became very frustrated with the problems that Zone Alarm caused on my system, and even more frustrated with the very poor technical support.

This week I decided to give the Sunbelt Software products a try. I checked other reviews of their products besides PC Antivirus Reviews and found much praise reported for their company and software. So I purchased the products and installed them. At first I thought, “Oh No!” I did encounter some problems. But that is not unusual with new software installation. I called the next day and spoke with a delightful fellow who was extremely helpful. The next day I had some more issues and I again received superb assistance.

Most tech support would have told me that the problems that I experienced were not areas that they covered as they were not directly related to their product. But the Sunbelt support person went out of his way to help. Moreover, he understood English as his FIRST language and therefore understood me and my issues. It was a rare delight!

Both the VIPRE antivirus and antispyware product and the Sunbelt Personal Firewall are up and running and doing very nicely. The software and hardware that was previously encountering interference from Zone Alarm is functioning beautifully so far. Moreover, my system is performing more quickly.

It is still very early in my experience, but so far I am very pleased. For anyone experiencing frustrations like the ones that I have mentioned, you may want to check out the Sunbelt Software for yourself.