Over at http://www.brutallyhonest.org/brutally_honest/ we have another dear soul calling for the judgment of God on America. The old worn, "If God doesn't judge America he will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah"...self-righteous litany is once again invoked over our great nation. I wonder if these folks have any idea what they are calling for when they demand the judgment of God...or an apology?

What unmitigated arrogance, or ignorance. Do they have any idea of what it is for which they call on our nation?

Anyway, here is my response.

Jonah desired the judgment of God on Nineveh.
God rebuked Jonah for his wretched judgmental attitude.

Abraham pleaded with God for Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham was called by God a man of faith, and righteous.

The "self-righteous" are the Jonahs.
The "God-righteous" are the intercessors, as was Moses, "God...if you destroy this people your name will be mud!"

"Father...forgive them...they know not what they do..."

God is looking for intercessors...God alone is the judge...and God doesn't need our help doing his job.

xtnyoda shalomed

picture courtesy of Military.com.
Subject: Why we are doing this!!!!

The other day, my nine-year-old son wanted to know why we were at war. My husband looked at our son and then looked at me. My husband and I were in the Army during the Gulf War and we would be honored to serve and defend our Country again today. I knew that my husband would give him a good explanation. He thought for a few minutes and then told my son to go stand in our front living room window. He said "Son, stand there and tell me what you see? "I see trees and cars and our neighbor's houses," he replied.

"OK, now I want you to pretend that our house and our yard is the United States of America and you are President Bush."
Our son giggled and said "OK."

"Now son, I want you to look out the window and pretend that every house and yard on this block is a different country" my husband said.

"OK Dad, I'm pretending."

"Now I want you to stand there and look out the window and pretend you see Saddam come out of his house with his wife, he has her by the hair and is hitting her. You see her bleeding and crying. He hits her in the face, he throws her on the ground, and then he starts to kick her to death.

Their children run out and are afraid to stop him, they are screaming and crying, they are watching this but do nothing because they are kids and they are afraid of their father. You see all of this, son...what do you do?"

"Dad?"

"What do you do son?"

"I'd call the police, Dad."

"OK. Pretend that the police are the United Nations. They take your call. They listen to what you know and saw but they refuse to help. What do you do then son?"
"Dad...but the police are supposed to help!" My son starts to whine.

"They don't want to, son, because they say that it is not their place or your place to get involved and that you should stay out of it," my husband says.

"But Dad...he killed her!!" my son exclaims.

"I know he did...but the police tell you to stay out of it. Now I want you to look out that window and pretend you see our neighbor, who you're pretending is Saddam, turn around and do the same thing to his children"

"Daddy...he kills them?"

"Yes, son, he does. What do you do?"

"Well, if the police don't want to help, I will go and ask my next door neighbor to help me stop him," our son says.

"Son, our next door neighbor sees what is happening and refuses to get involved as well. He refuses to open the door and help you stop him," my husband says.

"But Dad, I NEED help!!! I can't stop him by myself!!"

"WHAT DO YOU DO SON?" Our son starts to cry.

"OK, no one wants to help you. The man across the street saw you ask for help and saw that no one would help you stop him. He stands taller and puffs out his chest. Guess what he does next, son?"

"What Daddy?"

"He walks across the street to the old ladies house and breaks down her door and drags her out, steals all her stuff and sets her house on fire and then...he kills her. He turns around and sees you standing in the window and laughs at you. WHAT DO YOU DO?"

"Daddy...."

"WHAT DO YOU DO?" Our son is crying and he looks down and he whispers, "I'd close the blinds, Daddy."

My husband looks at our son with tears in his eyes and asks him.

"Why?"

"Because, Daddy, the police are supposed to help people who need them...and they won't help. You always say that neighbors are supposed to HELP neighbors, but they won't help either...they won't help me stop him...I'm afraid...I can't do it by myself, Daddy...I can't look out my window and just watch him do all these terrible things and...and...do nothing...so...I'm just going to close the blinds...so I can't see what he's doing...and I'm going to pretend that it is not happening."

I start to cry. My husband looks at our nine year old son standing in the window, looking pitiful and ashamed at his answers to my husband's questions and he says...

"Son"

"Yes, Daddy."

"Open the blinds because that man...He's at your front door..."WHAT DO YOU DO?"

My son looks at his father, anger and defiance in his eyes. He balls up his tiny fists and looks his father square in the eyes, without hesitation he says: "I DEFEND MY FAMILY, DAD!! I'M NOT GONNA LET HIM HURT MOMMY OR MY SISTER, DAD!!! I'M GONNA FIGHT HIM, DAD, I'M GONNA FIGHT HIM!!!!!"

I see a tear roll down my husband's cheek and he grabs our son to his chest and hugs him tight, and says... "It's too late to fight him, he's too strong and he's already at YOUR front do or son .....you should have stopped him BEFORE he killed his wife, and his children and the old lady across the way. You have to do what's right, even if you have to do it alone, before its too late," my husband whispers.

THAT scenario I just gave you is WHY we are at war with Iraq . When good men stand by and let evil happen, son, THAT is the greatest atrocity in the world. "YOU MUST NEVER BE AFRAID TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT EVEN IF YOU HAVE TO DO IT ALONE!" BE PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN! BE PROUD OF OUR TROOPS!! SUPPORT THEM!!! SUPPORT AMERICA SO THAT IN THE FUTURE OUR CHILDREN WILL NEVER HAVE TO CLOSE THEIR BLINDS..."

GOD BLESS!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, it's one of those e-mail things that appear from who knows where! But, it's a pretty good one!

xtnyoda shalomed

I'm grieving today. Late last night I was called out in my chaplain role.

She was sixteen. Lifeless body still stretched out on the side of the road. Car tumbled and rolled over 150 feet, on it's crushed top in the middle of the road.

The intoxicated male driver and girlfriend are alive at a local hospital, 19ish.

Bobbie, the dead 16 year old, has been on the run for eight years now...or I should say her parents have been...no one has any idea where they are, or live, or if they are even alive...for eight years now.

On the road side I try to console the heartbroken aunt and uncle who have tried to care for Bobbie...body 100 feet away, draped with a white sheet with wretched crimson blotches all too obvious in the dark night.

I don't know who to pray for but I do pray with the wonderful aunt and uncle who tried. I do pray for the parents...whoever...where-ever they are. I think this will be difficult for them when they finally find out. I pray for the drunk 19ish young man who will live with this for the rest of his life.

I did pray for Bobbie, over Bobbie...on the road side. I felt a little foolish praying over a lifeless body...so I am a fool. "oh God! I call upon your grace and mercy!"

I never knew her. She only lived some four miles from the church I serve. She died less than a mile from our steeple.

xtnyoda

Dear Sophie Jo,
Why such a hurry?
Slow down little one...
Your life will wait for you.
Take a little time
to rest in the care
of your loved ones.
They are pulling for you
like the moon pulls the seas.
Gentle...yet powerful
the tides roll.
So Sophie Jo...
Let their love roll
and kneed your little life
like freshly worked dough.
The fragrance so vibrant;
yeast, flour, gluten, salt...
and water...flushed with
that miracle of creation.
Water.

Then you may rise up.

Drink deeply dear one.
Breath deeply dear one.
Life will wait as you rest
in the caress of care.

Sophie...lover of wisdom...
hear your heart and live.

xtnyoda shalomed

XtnYoda hasn't seen anything funnier than this in a long time!

China tells living Buddhas to obtain permission before they reincarnate

The rules effectively exclude the Dali Lama from any role in recognising a living Buddha

Jane Macartney in Beijing

Tibet’s living Buddhas have been banned from reincarnation without permission from China’s atheist leaders. The ban is included in new rules intended to assert Beijing’s authority over Tibet’s restive and deeply Buddhist people.

“The so-called reincarnated living Buddha without government approval is illegal and invalid,” according to the order, which comes into effect on September 1.

The 14-part regulation issued by the State Administration for Religious Affairs is aimed at limiting the influence of Tibet’s exiled god-king, the Dalai Lama, and at preventing the re-incarnation of the 72-year-old monk without approval from Beijing.

It is the latest in a series of measures by the Communist authorities to tighten their grip over Tibet. Reincarnate lamas, known as tulkus, often lead religious communities and oversee the training of monks, giving them enormous influence over religious life in the Himalayan region. Anyone outside China is banned from taking part in the process of seeking and recognising a living Buddha, effectively excluding the Dalai Lama, who traditionally can play an important role in giving recognition to candidate reincarnates.

For the first time China has given the Government the power to ensure that no new living Buddha can be identified, sounding a possible death knell to a mystical system that dates back at least as far as the 12th century.

China already insists that only the Government can approve the appointments of Tibet’s two most important monks, the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama. The Dalai Lama’s announcement in May 1995 that a search inside Tibet — and with the co- operation of a prominent abbot — had identified the 11th reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, who died in 1989, enraged Beijing. That prompted the Communist authorities to restart the search and to send a senior Politburo member to Lhasa to oversee the final choice. This resulted in top Communist officials presiding over a ceremony at the main Jokhang temple in Lhasa in which names of three boys inscribed on ivory sticks were placed inside a golden urn and a lot was then drawn to find the true reincarnation.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article2194682.ece
XtnYoda Shalomed

Here is xtnyoda after a dedication prayer for fallen officers at our counties new memorial. xtnyoda serving here as a chaplain to our sheriff's department. Here is the prayer.
(By the way...should Deke from Texas ever come across this...Thanks for the main body of this prayer.)

Father, We are gathered together today to remember our brothers who followed Your Son in giving up their lives that the rest of us might live. Their names, inscribed here today on stone, are also inscribed in our hearts, may we never forget them and the great sacrifice that they have made for all.

Today, and every day that follows, our men and women will follow in these sacred steps, preserve and protect them, Father, for they are your sons and daughters, “"Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called the children of God."

May this day be a day of hope, renewed through our grief. We the friends, family and comrades of those who have gone before, pray that we be made strong and that we may live in faith and hope. May our lives reflect a shining proof that these honored fallen have not died in vain but continue to live in truth.

Father, we are your humble servants.

Amen

xtnyoda shalomed