Ron Paul wins in Jefferson County, IA Caucus 2012

Ron Paul Iowa Straw Poll Ames 2011

Ron Paul Iowa Straw Poll Ames 2011

Okoboji Conference 2010

Okoboji Conference 2010, Arnolds Park, Lakeside Laboratory, The Nature Center. Julian Drive Band played at the Okoboji Conference and I used it for the background music. Michelle Christy, speaker, talks about her clock story towards the end.

“Buried Alive” Book Review

Buried Alive, A True Story

Ever hear about those jobs overseas in Iraq paying top dollar for contractors and truck drivers? This book is a must read before even considering these jobs, especially in this tough economy. People may get tempted, but the dangers should be weighed.

Personally, hearing bad news upon bad news can get disheartening, but this book gives us a little hope. It can help open our eyes to the war in Iraq without feeling too overwhelmed. Roy tells us what he did day by day after being captured and the treatment he was given as a hostage. He tells us how he was even hid in a cover-up mosque where U.S. troops weren’t allowed.

Roy Hallums is a retired U.S. Navy Commander and worked as a civilian contractor in Iraq. He was kidnapped in 2004 as a hostage for ransom and held for 311 days until he was rescued. According to Roy, as of 2008, “Fifty American contractors have been kidnapped since the war in Iraq began,” and he was the only one rescued.

Americans are by far, not the only ones taken as hostages. Roy states, “Two hundred foreigners, including over a dozen Americans, and thousands of Iraqis, have been abducted since the war started. Some hostages are killed, others ransomed.” In the book, Roy used subtle clues to try to figure out whether he was kidnapped for beheading and torture, or for ransom. For example, no orange jumpsuit, determining which group captured him, and other hostages being released after their ransoms were paid told him he may just live.

Buried Alive doesn’t just give a ton of facts, but brings us out of our chairs into a world where many of us prefer not to think about.  Don’t worry, it’s a happy ending.

A free copy of this book was given by BookSneeze.

“Cupidity: 50 Stupid things people do for love” Review

Hayley and Michael DiMarco define Cupidity as love meeting stupid.  It takes our quirks in how we handle/react to the opposite sex and teaches us how we can get the results we want by doing things a little different.  Despite the seriousness of the subject, Cupidity uses a lighthearted approach to help us discover each other.

Personally, it made me chuckle here and there because I could see myself and my husband in some of the pages.  For example, Cupidity tells us what romance means to men versus women:

Women – flowers, surprise picnics, love notes

Men – An Xbox 360, power tools, a 1966 Mustang

The above items describe romance in my own relationship to a T.

The authors tell us that “Love is not a feeling.  Adrenaline can feel like love. Jumping out of an airplane can feel like love.”  Some of you who are single out there may remember the adrenaline rush of meeting a new date, or finding a new crush.  It can certainly feel like love, especially if you become somewhat obsessed over the other person.  Well, Cupidity gives you a few tips.  For women, let him get the door, plan and pay for the date, plus let him call you back versus you calling him back.  This allows him to take that leadership role early on, versus letting him follow your lead.  It might save you from having to be the boss if the date moves forward into a relationship.  “A few descriptions for women who try to be the boss are bossy, nagging, unthankful, and difficult.”

The cover of the book actually lists the stupid things people do for love.  Not what you would typically expect.  Some of them are Trying to fix things, Pleasing the other person at all costs, Rehearsing the other person’s faults in your own mind, Using sex to get love. Many of  us need direction in the area of relationships, and whether you’re single or married, this book will definitely give you incite on how to handle yourself to improve the quality of your relationships.

God bless.

A free copy was given for review by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

Knockout Entrepreneur by George Foreman

Knockout Entrepreneur by George Foreman focuses on character, faith, and growth as a business person.  He tells us his story and how he learned along the way, showing us how we can learn on our own journey.

One thing that stood out to me in the book was something George prayed for.  He prayed for solutions versus asking God for things.  George believes God will give us “fresh ideas about how to solve a problem or give us a vision for a new venture in our careers or business.”  George says to find a need and fill it. Part of that is finding solutions, versus just trying to make money.

It’s true, we can sometimes find ourselves making a grocery list of things we need and praying that God would provide us with those things.  It makes sense to pray for solutions because the solutions God brings to us may automatically provide for those things and serve others in the process.

Throughout the whole book, George give us examples of character.  One character trait is humility.  Humility helps us apologize for mistakes and helps us do the right thing.  Towards the end of his book, George talks about Bill Lear, the inventor of eight-track tapes.  This same Bill Lear came up with the Learjet, which could go almost 600 mph and travel up about 40,000 feet.  In 1966, two of Bill’s Learjets crashed and the pilot’s were found to be the cause.  Instead of accepting this verdict, Bill investigated and found otherwise.  He made the results known to the public and lost business during the investigation.  But Bill had integrity.  On a good note, Bill found the fix and within a few days, the jets were repaired.  It took courage for Bill to do the right thing. George says, “He (Bill) recalled earnestly listening to sermons from his pastor about honesty and integrity, and about doing the right thing when it wasn’t an easy thing to do.”

Courage to do the right thing when your reputation is at stake sounds easy, but as you know, it’s definitely the opposite of what it sounds.  George Foreman inspires us to be a better person. He himself is an example of someone who found faith in God and has the courage to follow Him.

God bless.

A free copy of this book was given to me for review from Thomas Nelson Publishing.

Avatar Movie Review

Neytiri

I was hesitant about this movie because of the Avatar cartoons out there that my son had seen on television years ago.  In the cartoon, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Aang has a spirit guide.  This spirit guide died a long time ago and helps Aang from the spirit world.  I have no doubts that there is a spirit world, but based on the Bible, taking direction from a familiar spirit is a no, no. 

Jake Sully, Former Marine now in a wheelchair

The movie Avatar is not the same as this cartoon.  In fact, there is a different movie made based on this cartoon called The Last Airbender.  Because the word avatar was in both of these shows, I figured it was the same concept.  It wasn’t.  Avatar, according to thefreedictionary.com, is “a movable image that represents a person in a virtual reality environment or in cyberspace”.  The movie Avatar is more in line with this definition than that pertaining to the Hindu religion.

The Avatar World

What first alarmed me about Avatar, the movie, was when my son mentioned that the natives on the planet Pandora worshipped other gods.  This gave me the red flag, so when he asked to watch it, I didn’t jump up and say yes.  First, I did the usual.  Read a few reviews online, asked my son a few more questions, then tried to decide. 

I had read some bad reviews from non-believers saying that the script wasn’t great or that they expected more out of the movie, but I’ve read bad reviews on movies that I enjoyed, so I didn’t pay too much attention to these.  I came across positive reviews from Christian standpoints, but one bothered me.  The person gave it a positive review, and said, “There is no mother earth, and their way of praying was not correct.”  This sentence told me not to see the movie.  Then a few days later, my husband took me on a suprise date to see the movie.  Curious to get the facts, I went.  I pondered over how I would explain to my husband why I walked out on the movie.  I didn’t, though…walk out. 

I was excited to see Avatar in 3D on the big screen.  People raved about it.  It didn’t make sense to me because I had worn those flimsy 3D glasses made out of paper before, and they didn’t work well at all.  Maybe my head just didn’t fit ’em right or something.  I’ll tell ya, I was blown away by the visuals in this movie so much, that I had to refocus so I could be in tune with hearing the movie, as well.

During the movie, when the Na’vi’s prayed to a female god, Eywa, my reasoning went something like this: well, they pray to one God, come to a temple-like place to pray (which happens to be a tree), and it seems that the plant lives on that planet are more connected and able to communicate with each other to a point, more so than on Earth.  After the movie, my husband made the comment that the planet Pandora was a living organism.  His understanding was that the Na’vi’s were simply talking to the planet through the tree.  To me, this reasoning made it sound like the Na’vi’s were praying to the planet.  Although, I did see his point. 

In the Bible, no one comes to God but through Jesus.  In this movie, the Na’vi’s go to the tree to pray to Eywa.  As taught in the Bible, we don’t try seeking the dead.  In Avatar, you can sometimes hear the prayers of those in the past through the tree (I see this as the tree recording their prayers versus hearing the words of the dead).  In the Bible, God is the Father.  The Na’vi’s see Him as a female.  From this, I could only assume God hasn’t shown up in Pandora the way He did on Earth.  Or that they hadn’t actually had a visitation there from God the way we had on Earth.

Here are some things I heard in the movie that involved spirituality:

1. “They are seeds of the sacred tree.  Very pure spirits.”

2. “She’s the spiritual leader, like a shaman.”

3. “Eywa is their goddess, a deity.”

4. “She keeps talking about the flow of energy, the spirit of animals.  Like a network of energy that flows through all living things.”

5. “All energy is borrowed.  One day you have to give it back.”

6. “There’s something going on in the trees biologically.  It’s not pagan vudu.  There’s an electro chemical connection, like neurons, between the roots.”

7. “The tree of life…a place for prayers to be heard and sometims answered.”

8. “The Na’Vi can upload and download information at these locations.” (referring to the glowing trees)

8. “They live within Eywa.”

9.  “She must pass through the eye of Eywa.”

10.  “It is a demon in a false body.” (referring to the avatars)

My recommendation is to watch it if you want, and if I’m wrong, God will give me more wisdom in the future and He will for you, too.  I am going to let my son watch it, but asked for us to talk about the film afterwards.  In the past, I’ve asked him why a movie might not glorify God, and he would reluctantly give me reasons why.  The reasons out of his own mouth, helped him understand why I wouldn’t let him watch that particular movie.  From this experience, I learned a new way to help my teen apply Biblical principles to everyday life.  By simply asking him how it lines up with the Bible.

God bless.

Haiti Orphanage Crushed in Earthquake

An earthquake with magnitude 7.0 hit Haiti Tuesday afternoon causing possibly more than 100,000 to perish, according to officials.  Schools and hospitals were crushed with many dead.

The orphanage above in Jacmel, Haiti was also crushed, but the children are okay.  They have no place to sleep and are working on making a lean-to for shelter.  If you would like to help, please contact Cherie Cecil for more information 641-919-1745.

Sponsor a child in Haiti Orphanage  at $32.00 a month for a partial sponsorship and $64.00 for a full sponsorship.

Fireproof Movie Review

Fireproof was not a movie my husband wanted to watch with me, but he did.  Though he had his doubts about it, we both got something out of it.

Fireproof is a story about a young couple, Catherine and Caleb, who are on the brink of divorce due to their differences.  She nags about him not helping out during his days off (she works 2 jobs to help her sick mother), she nags about him looking at pornography online, and she nags about him saving his money for a boat instead of paying for house repairs and upgrades.

He complains that she nags all the time and doesn’t respect that he works hard to save people’s lives as a fireman.  He believes he should be able to save for his boat because he started saving for it before they got married.  And he reminds her that they agreed her second job was for her to spend how she wanted, so that’s how the upgrades to their home should be paid for.

Ahh, the bickering.  When watching it on the screen as a third party observer, it hits home to many.  As she nagged, my chest tightened up and I could feel myself hold my breath as I was convicted by the Holy Spirit that I nag too.

Events unfolded and Caleb’s dad gave him a Love Dare.  He dared Caleb to love his wife like he said he did and go through each day doing something for their marriage.  Caleb’s dad gave him a journal with what to do each day.  Day one was to be positive, or to purposely not say anything negative to his wife.  She was unresponsive through Caleb’s experiment, but Catherine did notice a change in her husband.  In the end, Caleb gave her what she wanted most; what proved to her that he really did care.

I thought about the difficulties in a marriage that Fireproof brought up.  Sometimes we have to love others even if we felt at one point they didn’t deserve the extra effort.  We have to trust God enough that even if we open our hearts up for rejection, that God will bring something good from our efforts.  In Fireproof, Caleb took the dare and reaped the rewards of forgiveness in his marriage.

As I walked the aisles of Walmart, I came across a book, “The Love Dare“.  God had been urging me to be more loving towards my husband and others around me, even my complaining customers and unfair bosses.  God wants us to forgive and not carry the burden of having to change others.  Like the movie, Day 1 of the book, “The Love Dare“, also says to be positive and don’t say anything negative to your husband.  It can also apply to the other people we come in contact with throughout the day.

Fireproof helps us see that there is hope in a failing marriage.  Reconciliation is possible, even on the brink of divorce, if we just dare to follow a few steps, just to see what happens.  It’s just a dare, no biggy.  But the rewards of this dare can change the course of our hearts.  We all want instant results, and we can get that by changing ourselves first.  We just have to take the chance and see what happens.

God bless.