Fubar Blog Posts 2

Enough !!!!!
Subject: I wish you ENOUGH............ Recently I overheard a mother and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had announced the departure. Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the mother said, "I love you and I wish you enough". The daughter replied, "Mom, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Mom". They kissed and the daughter left. The mother walked over to the window where I was seated. Standing there I could see she wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on her privacy but she welcomed me in by asking, "Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?". Yes, I have," I replied. "Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever good-bye?". "I am old and she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality is - the next trip back will be for my funeral," she said. "When you were saying good-bye, I

Enough
Enough of the torment.........enough of the pain. When is enough going to be enough for my ex so she can stop @#$% with me and my relationship with my girls? I let her move my girls to FL, the ultimate sacrifice yet she exploits my sacrifice every chance she gets. "You can have more time with the girls, but they can't leave the state" "Your youngest is to young to spend that much time away from me". My girls love the time they have away from the stress that drove me out the door. They love spending time with me. Now I am having to deal with my ex fighting me on my summer visitation schedule. She agreed to what I am excerising this summer when we got divorced. But now she doesn't like it, thinks it is to long and will force me to go to court to excerise my rights. It is so frustrating having to fight for the right to see my children. All I want is my time with them. She expects the world from me yet gives me @#$% in return. I spend almost every last dime I have to

Enough Already!!!!!!!! :) My Rant!!! W/ Updates
One of the reason I came to CherryTap and left other social networks was that the average age of the user was much older and hopefully more mature. Was I wrong on the maturity thing? ITEM #1 All these fucking blogs about: ????? is fake. Then you have the so called victim doing hours of research trying to prove that ????? is a fake. Oh, enough with the crap already. AH, so ????? tricked you and you fell for this person. Now you got hurt. Yeah, it sucks, but get the fuck over it and start living your life instead of trying to be PI GetaLife. I get emails daily from supposed drop dead gorgeous 20 something year old females trying to become my friends etc.... It is not too hard to recognize. When I get an email from some user with a hot pic wearing barely nothing who claims to be in the 20-25 year old age range, then a red light comes on in the head of this bald 41 year old male. As much as would like to believe that this chicks want to jump my bones and be my girl

Enough Is Enough!!!!!!
I have gotten the same damn bulletin over and over and over again for the past 10 hours. I really hate to put my bulletin board on "family only" because sometimes I DO get something interesting that I like to read. If I looked a bulletin once then I'm probably NOT going to look at it again... ESPECIALLY if I keep getting the same one over and over. Please.... please STOP THE MADNESS~~~~~~~~~~~

Enough Is Enough
Okay so I recently read a blog that my friend posted today..... and man did what he say hit home. I feel the exact same way about this cherry tap shit. So here is the new rules that I am playing by....... 1. Don't send me a add requet unless you have a read my "about me" section on my profile. 2. If you have not even rated my profile or pictures don't bother sending me a request either. 3. If I do decide to add you please DO NOT under any circumstances send me a retarded shoutbox or comment unless you are wanting to be deleted. 4. And unless for some odd reason I ask to hear your drama don't asume that I give a shit. The saying is true assumptions only make a ass out of you and well..... YOU! Thank you for your time.

Enough Is Enough
I HAVE BEEN BEING GOOD NOT GETTING INVOLED BUT I CANT SIT BY ANY MORE IM SURE SCAPPER WILL DELEAT ME WHEN THIS GETS OUT BUT OH WELL THERE ARE A BUNCH OF YOU WHO ACT LIKE 2 YEAR OLDS YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE IF YOU WOULD LIKE ILL NAME YOU THIS IS THE INTERNET AND YOU MUST REMBER THAT YOU GO ON THE ATTACK AND THEN DONT LIKE IT WHEN SOME ONE RETURNS IT TO YOU SO TO MAKE SURE YOU DONT GET YOUR FEELINGS HURT YOU BLOCK EVERY ONE THAT MAY SAY SOME THING TO YOU YES IM TALKING ABOUT YOU ANGEL BABY YOU FAT LITTLE TROLL I WOULD TEL YOU TO CHOKE ON MY DICK BUT I WOULDNT LET YOU THAT CLOSE TO ME FOR FEAR THAT SOMETHING MIGHT GET ON ME IF YOU DONE THINK YOU DO ANYTHING WRONG BY CHEATING THEN UNBLOCK ME AND TALK TO ME LIKE A REAL PERSON BUT YOU KNOW YOU ARE WRONG AS FAR AS SONNY BUYING YOU SOME DIRTY WEED WELL YOU SHOULDNT BE OFFENDED BY THAT TROLLS LIVE IN THE WOODS AND YOU SHOULD FEEL HONOR THAT HE WOULD EVEN SPEND ANY OF HIS BUCKS ON YOUR STANK SMELLING ASS AS FOR HIM BEING MAD THAT YOU WANT BE HIS GI

Enough Is Enough!!!!!!!!!
I am sorry but after hearing they want to sing the National Anthem in Spanish - enough is enough. Nowhere did they sing it in Italian, Polish, Irish (Celtic), German or any other language because of immigration. It was written by Francis Scott Key and should be sung word for word the way it was written The news broadcasts even gave the translation -- not even close. Sorry if this offends anyone but this is MY COUNTRY - IF IT IS YOUR COUNTRY SPEAK UP -- please pass this along. I am not against immigration -- just come through like everyone else. Get a sponsor; have a place to lay your head; have a job; pay your taxes, live by the rules AND LEARN THE LANGUAGE as all other immigrants have in the past -- and GOD BLESS AMERICA! PART OF THE PROBLEM Think about this: If you don't want to forward this for fear of offending someone -- YOU'RE PART OF THE PROBLEM !!!! It is Time for America to Speak up If you agree -- pass this along; if you don't agree -- delete it!

Enough!
DHHS is trying to shut my fiancee up by taking away her constitutional right to free speech. They are threatening to keep our baby away from us for as long as we insist on making our voices heard. My fiancee has been continually harrassed by the department of health and human services for 2 years. My fiancee has 2 other children who are also in state custody due to her ex-husband not wanting to pay her child support when she told the asshole to take a long walk off a short pier. Her pervert former husband now has the older 2 children living with him at his mommy's house in Raymond. He doesn't support those children his mother and his step-daddy do with help from the state. This so called man was allowed to withhold money from my fiancee for 8 years and made her and her older 2 children basically starve. He also almost allowed my fiancee to die on her livingroom floor because he refused to bring her to the hospital when she was pregnant with her son, my fiancee went into

Enough Bullshit Sassyone Aka(laurie)
ITS APPARENT YOU HAVE NOTHING TO SAY TO ME IN REGUARDS TO YOUR ACTIONS AS TO WHY YOU WOULD MESS WITH TAGS HEY I GAVE YOU CREDIT FOR WHEN YOU STARTED MAKIN TAGS I GOT NOTHEN AGAINST YOU MAKIN TAGS FOR PEOPLE AND SURELY HAVE NOTHEN AGAINST ANYONE FOR DOING SOMETHING NICE BUT MY QUESTION IS WHY YOU HAD TO BE VENDICTIVE? I AM CERTAINLY NOT A A BITCH FOR A REASON YOU MESSED WITH OUTLAW ANGEL WHEN I NEVER EVEN SENT HER TO YOUR PAGE THE FIRST TIME YOU HAD TO MAKE SNIDE REMARKS ABOUT HER IN YOUR PROFILE THEN THAT WASNT ENOUGH YOU HAD TO GET SHITTY WITH ME DO YOU NOT RECALL THESE CONVERSATIONS CAUSE IF NOT I DO HAVE COPIES OF THE MESSAGES WHICH IT ISNT ANY BIG DEAL AS FOR FIREMAN185 IF HE CHOICES TO TALK TALK TO YOU FROM NOW ON OUT THATS UP TO HIM I DONT TELL WHO HE CAN TALK TO AN WHO HE CANT HES A BIG BOY AND ADULT HE CHOSE ME OVER YOU IM SORRY I CANT CONTROL WHAT CHUCK CHOSE TO DO ALL IM SAYIN IS WISE UP DID HE NOT TELL YOU HOW HE FELT? I THINK HE DID SOMETIME AGO ANYWAYS IVE SAID ALL IM GON

Enough
Recently I overheard a mother and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had announced the departure. Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the mother said, "I love you and I wish you enough". The daughter replied, "Mom, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Mom". They kissed and the daughter left. The mother walked over to the window where I was seated. Standing there I could see she wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on her privacy but she welcomed me in by asking, "Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?". Yes, I have," I replied. "Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever good-bye?". "I am old and she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality is the next trip back will be for my funeral," she said. "When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, 'I wish you enough'. May I ask what that means?". She began to

Enough Of The Bullshit!!
Alright folks! I'm sick and tired of trying to make frinds on this fuckin thing and to be ignored by some bullshit you confused about!! i don't have to explain a fucking thing about myself if i don't feel like tellin you or if you don't ask. I don't just blurt out my fucking personal life for no damn reason!! I talk to people on here for one reason and one reason only and that is to MEET PEOPLE!!!! nothing more nothing less, If i meet you in person,cool! If not i can still keep up on the internet in some form or another weither it be Cherrytap,Myspace, or Yahoo!! My one major pet peeve is when i talk to someone and they just leave me hanging, if you don't want to talk don't fucking talk but at least tell me "Hey, i don't want to talk to you". I'm a big fucking boy i can handle rejection. I've got too much time and too many things on my fucking mind to be worried about why such-and-such got an attitude with me. Most ladies i talk to on here think im about one thing! And you damn right i

Enough Already God, Just Hit Me With A Lighning Bolt And Quit Torturing Me!
My life is just too damn stressful at the moment. Nothing, and I mean nothing is going right. My job is in danger of not existing next month. I am down to 100 bucks for the next couple of weeks due to my ex not giving me my daughter as a deduction as she said she would. Course she delayed giving me my daughters social security number, then sprung that on me with no time to fight it in court before the damn taxes are due (I am self employed, so my taxes are high). My divorce mediation was a miserable failure, as she wanted all the property and none of the debt. You'd almost think I had asked for the damn thing, or that I cheated on her. She was the one who filed and moved her new man in! God I hope I get a fair judge, I am tired of living on tv dinners and Ramen. My love life is going absolutely nowhere. I have plenty of female friends, but that is all they see me as. I could go back to my last girl friend, she PM's me daily, but that was just about sex. Her suicidal

Enough Is Enough
Sometimes the selfishness of people amazes me. I do so much for so many people and i ask for little or nothing in return, and yet it's still not enough for some people. I'm so tired, I need to be loved on, to recharge, and all people do is say gimme gimme gimme. My kingdom for a day of rest. I'll make this short cuz I know you don't listen anyway. Don't worry I'll still give ya all I got everyday, no matter how much it hurts..... ~Tony

Enough Is Fucking Enough!
Disclaimer: The following blog will have strong language not suitable for children, and it might piss you the hell off, so with that being in mind, the following blog is my opinion and mine alone. Now after reading this blog if you care to discuss it, I'll be more than happy to, but remember this is my opinion, you aint gotta agree with me, but respect me and I will do the same.... OK for the last week and a half now all I've been hearing about is "Don Imus got fired, how do you feel about it?" or "What do you think about NBC firing Imus after they suspended him?" I had planned on keeping my mouth shut and hoping that this would go away, but after being asked this almost every damn day for the last week and a half I figured "Aw fuck it, I'll just speak my mind and see what happens from there" Now first and foremost, I do not now nor have I ever condoned what Imus said regarding the ladies on the Rutgers basketball team, I thought it was stupid and in really bad taste, joke

Enough
I Am Enough You cannot change what is part of you, although I've often tried; My body was never thin enough, my imperfections I'd always hide. I smiled when they said I was beautiful, I laughed when they said I was great... But it took a long time to believe their words, I figured loneliness was my fate. The boys I wanted, didn't want me, I was tossed, used, and torn. So many took me as a joke, I crawled inside myself;scared and forlorn. I finally decided to believe in me, I realized I was worth so much. This was when I could see through the storm, when I allowed my soul to be touched. But I know that I will always love myself, no matter what-I AM ENOUGH!!! Lindsey Ruth Goolsby Copyright ©2007 Lindsey Ruth Goolsby

Enough...
I've got less than an hour before i have to be at work and I'm choking down anti depressants and tequila like its the only cure for the worst hangover ever. Not to say I have a hang over. Far from it. But I'm definitely not 100%. I pop two more advil and find some percocet and all i can think about is the constant nagging feeling that nothing is where it should be. Over the course of time situations change and personality evolves. I can say with certainty that building character is pretty much what I get paid for nowadays, but when does it stop? When can I sit back and say all is good in the world. If its not concern for myself, its concern for someone or something else. I'm exhausted. mentally, physically and spiritually. i hate that I need to find that bottle of johnny Black to fake it through the weekend. In reality I don't need to but what else is left. I'm a hallow shell of everything i thought i could be. Slowly drained of every opportunity I've ever set in my sights. Is it

Enough
Ok enough of the bitching if i delete you from my list is because I did my part i make sure everyone on my list gets rated and at lease 1 comment a day... i try very hard to stay on top of everyone on rating there stuff. but my list list not a parking lot if u don't show interest back then u don't need to be on my list period so get over it,either return the favor or get ta steppin!!!!!!!!

Enough Of The Bullshit (edited)
My best friend ...NOT so called best friend ...MY BEST FRIEND, that I love like a sister and her children know me as an aunt, asked me to come to Cherry Tap and READ something her older sister had written about her back in January. Now, mind you, I do love her like a sister. We have been through a LOT togetherr. I have known her three years and I have seen her children grow up without their father in their lives. Oh, and YES, I have made my own mistakes in the past. Which I assure you will be brought up at some point. YES, I suffered from severe depression at one point. YES, I gave my children to their father because the depression was overwhelming and didn't want them seeing me like that. YES, I took sleeping pills when I was alone, as the doctors all say as a CRY FOR HELP and not a suicide attempt. YES, I have made my own bed and deal with it day by day. YES, I have a GREAT lawyer who is getting things done the RIGHT way with me. YES, I made mistakes in the past. I

Enough With The Fanning
ok, since i've been on ct if i felt like you were worth adding as a friend i would fan you also but i just realized i've fanned twice as many people than who has fanned me. so from now on i'll really have to be a fan for me to fan you....what's so hard about returning the favor?...even if you look cute in tight jeans ur not better than anybody else....handle that!!!!

Enough Is Enough
Yanno for the last two months there has been so much drama in my life that it has gotten to the point that I just cant take it no more.... He said She said crap and feelings getting hurt. Do I regret what I have said? Nah I dont because I had every right to stand up for myself and do what needed to be done. I have found out just who my true friends and family are. I have put my heart soul and guts into something that in the end wasnt worth it. All it brought was pain and stress that I really dont need. So now time to move on and find new friends and family. I only hope that I can find true friends that wont stab me in the back every chance they get but that is what happens when you open your heart to someone and trust them. Oh well.

Enough Is Enough
OK I LOST ONE PAGE ON CT, BECAUSE OF VIETMAN VETERAN HATERS/DIRTY OLD BIKER HATERS/DOWNRATERS/ AND PEOPLE WHO SENT ME HATE MAIL FOR BEING A DIRTY OLD MAN. TO YOU I SAY "FOND", IF YOU GET THIS PAGE I WILL JUST HAVE TO BUILD ANOTHER. SO FROM THIS DATE FORWARD, I WILL BE KNEW AS LONE WOLF WITH ONE HELL OF A PACK OF FRIENDS LMAO. I DO WANT TO GIVE A SHOUT OUT AND A BIG THANKS TO ALL MY FRIENDS THAT DID HELP BACK THIS TIME AROUND Lone Wolf

Enough Of The Nasty Emails Already
First, this entry may not make sense to many of you--however there are a few that it will make perfect sense too and those are who it is directed toward. Now, in the last few weeks, I have received a few emails--NOT nice ones--informing me that Roo visited their profiles and left comments on photos...these emails, whatever the purpose was, did nothing but piss me off. The women who sent them are childish and I refuse to let them get to me...at first, after the third email...I'd had enough. No, I didn't go to their profiles and downrate them or reply to the emails, or show any signs that it got to me-- hell for all I know those could've been fake accounts. I'm bigger than that and I'm not into the whole drama thing. I was going to let this fade away, but the third one well, all it did was piss me off. When I finally told Roo about it, he wanted to delete his account...I told him that that is not the reason I told him; and that I hadn't mentioned anything sooner because he doesn

Enough (pissed Off)
OK I HAVE TO POST THIS!! I AM SICK AND TIRED OF ALL THE SHIT THAT IS BEING SAID ABOUT ME ON HERE. I AM GONNA BE STRAIGHT UP FRONT I AM TIRED OF PEOPLE SAYING STUFF ABOUT ME THAT ISN'T TRUE! THIS IS THE ONE REASON WHY I KEEP TO MYSELF AND I AM GONNA KEEP IT THAT WAY. WHEN I SAY I WANT NO PART OF ANYTHING GET IT THROUGH YOUR HEAD! THAT IS WHAT I MEAN. I CAN'T TAKE PEOPLE RUINING STUFF ON ME! POSTING STUFF THAT ISN'T TRUE JUST PUT ME OVER THE EDGE NOW! AND I WANT IT TO END NOW! I HAVE DONE NOTHING TO ANY OF YOU PEOPLE, WHY WOULD YOU DO IT TO ME?? AND IF PEOPLE WANNA BELIEVE WHAT THEY HEAR THEY BETTER COME ASK ME FIRST I HAVE NOTHING TO HIDE ABOUT MYSELF. I JUST WANT IT ALL TO STOP PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!

Enough Is Enough
No one can hear it the sound of tears falling a poned the pillow cases. Why would they care i have nothing to offer them just a shadow of someone they want to be i loveing heart caring soul but not enough to keep them alive to much fighting to much you said i said its not worth it. i want to close the door but don't have the streght enough and love to much. the alchole dont' drown my tears. it wont take uou out of my mind my heart wont give up and the hole reason to drink is to give up on you but you stay right there in my heart and soul not give in

Enough
you guys suck and you know who you are, my birthday is in 30 min and you have to take your crush off me? sorry if i dont talk dirty to you and have class, go find some cheap slut on here, theres plenty i dont want your crush anyway loser

Enough Is Enough
The other day I was walking in Walmart where a beautiful black woman was walking with her children shopping. She wore her native colors of Africa on a shirt and hat and her children were as sweet as they could be. I was pissed off when a white man made a comment about her clothing saying it shouldn't be allowed and that it was a pathetic attempt for attention. I turned around and told him "Welcome to fuckin America! This is not a place for just one religion, race, ethnic background or sex. It is a place for those who wish to have freedom and rights to come together and why is showing her love from her native home negative in any way?" I really was pissed off so had to watch my words but look at me people, I am half Italian and half German. My family was deported over here many years ago and they were judged as well. I still get judged because people think I am hispanic and they say things about that. Enough is enough with this bullshit. You want to be an American and live in America th

Enough Is Enough
I read Scrapper’s blog about the Mumms. He is lying through his teeth. That is business in the United States today. I am pulling both of my accounts. I will miss Maggie, Vixen, Mistress of Wolves, GoddessOfLight, Wiz, Misfit, Illusions, ThreatLevelOrange, FuzzyBunny, and Peachy. You all in your own way have been good friends to me. I will no long associate with FUBAR. I will not be associated with a business which is run at a Junior High School level of maturity. I don’t give a damn if they have little concern about my business. I am not having anything to do with this place. The way this site is run is so very wrong, it can no longer be tolerated. You can reach me at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CherryBack/

Enough Already
OK.. nice never seems to work.. so I will put it very bluntly.... I am not here to "date" or "get with " anyone. I have a boyfriend and m not leaving him... get over it..I also will not "cheat" on him. I am not giving up my heart and soul for any one night. I am not putting up "nude pics" nor showig any more that you see there.. only one man gets to see all that and it aint you.. get over it. I will not be taking new friend requests unless i know you.. and please do not bother to contact me if you intend to mention sex. I do not care how close to me you are.. I am NOT sleeping with you!!!!.. now maybe this will get my point across..

Enough Is Enough!
I can't believe that because I left this screename on here and made another account for fun that some of my friends from this account are mad. I made another account for fun and because I did miss Cherry Tap( at the time I left it was still Cherry Tap). I didn't tell anyone because I wanted to have it for fun and didn't really think I would keep it. The longer I was on it I made more and more new friends and slowly some of my friends from this name found me and added me. The majority of them had no problem with why I did what I did. But a few are still upset and feel like they were betrayed for some reason. I have apologized over and over again even though I don't think I did anything wrong and I still get grief for it. I feel like I have been a great friend and a good person, I don't add people for points, if I did that I wouldn't have left this account for so long and not tried to level up. I bomb people when they need me to. I don't get involved with drama and yet I still get ridicu

Enough Is Enough (a Pissed Off Rant)
WHAT IS IT ABOUT PEOPLE WHO SEND FRIEND REQUESTS AND DON'T HAVE THE DECENCY TO AT LEAST SAY HELLO FIRST? I DON'T KNOW HOW OTHER PEOPLE ARE IN THIS SITE BUT I'D LIKE SOMEONE TO AT LEAST MAKE AN ATTEMPT TO BE A FRIEND BEFORE I ACCEPT A FRIEND REQUEST. MAYBE IT'S JUST ME. BUT SENDING ME A FRIEND REQUEST WITHOUT SAYING ONE WORD TO ME FIRST IS THE PERFECT WAY TO GET DECLINED WITHOUT ME EVEN THINKING ABOUT IT. I HAVE ENOUGH FRIENDS AND FANS WHO NEVER SAY A WORD TO ME. I DON'T NEED ANOTHER ONE ON TOP OF WHAT I ALREADY HAVE.

Enough Talk, Already - Men/women -- So True!
Enough Talk, Already At Some Point, Experts Say, Action's Better. Men and Women Split on When. By Laura Sessions Stepp Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, August 21, 2007; HE01 Drop by a high school cafeteria at lunchtime some day and listen to the girls' conversations. One may be commiserating with another over how much schoolwork they have. A couple of others might be fretting over how tired they are from lacrosse practice and that they're never going to get their college applications finished and that all this stress made them eat a whole bag of Oreos and now they'll never get into the size 0 jeans they bought last weekend. You might call it the "I wanna be in a mess, too" syndrome, known by some therapists as co-rumination. Women do not outgrow the habit. While males tend to think their way through problems, females tend to talk their way through, according to William Doherty, a professor of family social science at the University of Minnesota. Get two or more women t

Enough Is Enough
Well today is sept 11th like anyone could forget. every damn channel is showing all the video of the horrble tragity. And everyone one has a sep 11th pic up and stuff all over school. Now some of you my think I am being mean but not trying to be. To back myself up I did lose a friend in the two towers and I do have family over seas. But enough is enough. why to every damn year have to show all the tragic videos over and over? To me its like someone comeing up to me on the day my brother tragicly died, here is the photos and documents from the accedent and here remember the funeral. of course I will never for the that horrible day but why put it in my face and make me cry and have to see it all again. We dont show videos of vetnam, okalahoma city bombing or other tragitys. if we are going to drag this out then we need to show stuff about other things that have happend in the country. How about the kids that die everyday because of parents that dont give a shit and eather neglect

9/11, Enough Already! (read Fully Before You Freak Out!)
(This post may seem unpopular at first, perhaps even enraging, but bear with me a second and read this through to the end, please.) I'm sick of hearing about 9/11 every year. Yes, it has had a great impact on our way of life, all of it bad, and I don't need a reminder of how the two worst criminals in American history, George Bush and Osama bin Laden, have become unwitting partners in destroying this once-great nation. On 9/10/01 the world was about the same as it is now: people got up and went to work, their kids went to school, and business was as usual. The economy was in the toilet thanks to the Bush economic policies that were the revival of the already-failed Keynesian supply-side economics called Reaganomics. My beloved Denver Broncos played a MNF game that night and I unfortunately saw Ed McCaffery break his leg in what would be the beginning of the end of his all-pro career. It was a typical day. 9/11 came and we all know what happened. America went through one of

Enough Is Enough....
OK, so I decided to post this here, partly as a rant and venting of my ire, partly because I thought it was well written-enough to share. Partly because the Fubar audience is an appropriate place to post things like this. Sorry in advance if it's too long. I'm a windy bastard... A little background: My ex-wife of 17 years, who unbeknownst to me has surreptitiously been reading my Myspace page blogs about my affair with a woman (Christy) 20 years younger then me (no I won't elaborate. If you want to read the whole tragic story go to my Myspace page and read the blogs. The link is in my profile here), decided she would finally end her silence and spew her God-inspired wrath upon me, calling me a sinner and all sorts of crap. She made reference in the first letter to her being pregnant by me with triplets after we had separated and that I had no compassion for the loss of those babies. As you will see from my eventual response, such was not the case. Her first letter is first,

Enough !
Why do I bother. What is there to gain. I like having friends and being around people. Ever feel like its not enough. NO matter how hard you try, your best isn`t enough. I am tired and old. I want the people around me happy. Yeah I like my life,sometimes its not enough. Laughing makes me happy, and yes i do cry. When I get down, I pick myself back up. Why because thats all I know to do. Tell me just this one thing! Am I the only one thats does get ENOUGH.

Enough Already! Part 3
hey this blog posting is kinda fun actually8-p Might wanna read the other two to make any sense! 1.I will not repost bulletins that disagree with Admin! 2.I will not repost bulletins that disagree with Admin! 3.I will not repost bulletins that disagree with Admin! 4.I will not repost bulletins that disagree with Admin! 5.I will not repost bulletins that disagree with Admin! 6.I will not repost bulletins that disagree with Admin! 7.I will not repost bulletins that disagree with Admin! 8.I will not repost bulletins that disagree with Admin! 9.I will not repost bulletins that disagree with Admin! 10.I will not repost bulletins that disagree with Admin! 11.I will not repost bulletins that disagree with Admin! 12.I will not repost bulletins that disagree with Admin! 13.I will not repost bulletins that disagree with Admin! 14.I will not repost bulletins that disagree with Admin! 15.I will not repost bulletins that disagree with Admin! 16.I will not repost bulletins that d

Enoughzenough
so, as we all know, anything goes on this site...but as a trusted loving girlfriend and mother, sorry to say but i'm downsizing. not everyone, but all those who make rude comments or ask me stupid questions. if i think you havent gotten the clue from reading my profile, you will be deleted. so if YOU think it could be you then please help me out here and get off my friends list. nothing really against anyone, but we all have different tastes, ideas, and views on life. i have no need to look at you jerking off on yer webcam. i get what i need from my man just fine. thanks to everyone for putting up with me and props to myself for finally standing up to "in your face freedom"... some people just take it tooo far and push it onto the unwilling. sorry thank you and have a good week.

Enough Is Freaking Enough.
I've decided to finally stop effing around and get some damn nails put back on. It's so weird, when my oldest sister has long nails I have NONE. But when I have long nails she has NONE. Freaking genetics. Anyway, it's almost time to go home. Who's coming with me? :)

Enough
ENOUGH What is your heart? Tell me about it How dose it love? And fall in love? How could it sell? Somebody buying it Enough You cheated on who opened his heart for you You hurt and sold who loved you The dream of your life which he draw for you You stepped on it and lost it by your hands My heart that you wound and did wrong Tomorrow you will ask it to forgive you Tomorrow you will be hurt and repentance When you find it forgot your look and too late Enough I used to believe all your words I used to live on your fake dreams You used to cheat You used to hurt You made me live in your illusions You made me live in your illusions Enough I am sure you dont feel me And you can't feel my pains that you made Tomorrow you will taste my pains Then you will cry on me Now I am telling you enough To stop years of love You are end of sorrow and memory And my heart now needs a start Enough I used to believe all your words I used to live on you

Enough
J'ai été ainsi patient pour savoir le résultat, les mots vous disiez toujours la répétition dans ma tête. Mais maintenant je biseaute crois que ce que vous dites pour aucun effort a été fait à la fin du jour. Son tout ou rien comme je disais dès le début, maintenant le temps n'est venu pour que nous partie, après que toute cette merde vous reste à mon coeur.

Enough Is Enough. Cyber Stalker Is Bothering My Family
enough is enough. cyber stalker is bothering my family i have a cyber stalker that is continually trying to contact me. i can live with this. no problem, but now he bothering my family. he was just fanned a family member and all he did was rate one of my pictures that my family ripped from my space. No other pictures did he rate just mine. My friend contacted me and asked me who was bothering me when i told him, he said he was here. i went to his page to find the face of my cyber stalker there. All family member please click on the following: Blocking Englishman in KY or cut and paste the following: http://www.fubar.com/blockuser.php?block_id=79588 link to his page if you want i suggest just block and forget Linking Englishman in KY

Enough With The Cheating Already
As you all well know I am a Patriots fan and like many pats fans I get a lot of shit talkers using the Pats cheat argument to back up their losses. Well folks here is the way it is. Early in the season the pats coach WAS caught doing something naughty I won't pretend he didn't.... he did it was crappy and now its over. However, the pats didn't win that game because of cheating and they haven't won any other game because of cheating either. Funny thing is... the Colts cheated too. Want proof watch video below. They pumped fake crowd noise into the Brady's helmet causing interference with the coach so they could not communicate. Not only that the fake crowd noise had to be pumped into the stadium as well and OOPS the CD skipped fancy that! Unfortunately for them it did not work as they were defeated. So yeah the Patriots just happen to be kicking ass this year... and maybe just maybe its because they have a fucking awesome team... So take your "BOOHOO the Pats cheat" bullshit ex

Enough Is Enough
Black Hurricanes It appears our African-American friends have found yet something else to be pissed about. A black congresswoman reportedly complained that the names of hurricanes are all Caucasian sounding names. She would prefer some names that reflect African-American culture such as Chamiqua, Tanisha, Woeisha, Shaqueal, and Jamal. She would also like the weather reports to be broadcast in Language that street people can understand because one of the problems in New Orleans is that regular folks couldn't understand the seriousness of the situation due to the racially biased language of the weather report. I can hear it now: A weatherman in Houston says. .. 'Wazzup, mutha-fukkas! Hehr-i-cane Chamiqua be headin' fo' yo ass like Leroy on a crotch rocket! Bitch be a category fo'! So grab yo' chirren, yo' Ho, be leavin yo crib, and head fo' da nearest guv'ment office fo yo FREE sh!t!'

Enough
Recently I overheard a mother and daughter in their > last moments together at the airport. They had > announced the departure. Standing near the security > gate, they hugged and the mother said, "I love you > and I wish you enough". The daughter replied, "Mom, > our life together has been more than enough. Your > love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, > Mom". They kissed and the daughter left. The mother > walked over to the window where I was seated. > Standing there I could see she wanted and needed to > cry. I tried not to intrude on her privacy but she > welcomed me in by asking, "Did you ever say good-bye > to someone knowing it would be forever?". Yes, I > have," I replied. "Forgive me for asking, but why is > this a forever good-bye?". "I am old and she lives > so far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality > is - the next trip back will be for my funeral," she > said. "When you were saying good-bye, I heard you > say, 'I wish you enough'. Ma

Enough Is Enough....
Maybe I am just having a male version of PMS today... but I think sending out 6 notices of a freaking longue is too much lol. It doesn't have to go out every hour. I know I can shut it off so it doesn't go into my email, but I do like to know when someone leaves me a comment. ok.. go back to ignoring me now lol.

Enough!!!
Alright. Let me get straight to the point. Over 97% of you I never hear from again after I rate your pics/profiles. Which means that you weren't interested in talking to begin with. And that's fine. But I'm not on here to just rate people. Therefore, from this point on DO NOT contact me asking me to rate you. You will be ignored. I will rate someone when I feel that their profile is worth rating. Peace.

Enough Is Enough
First off I wanted to let you all know that each and everyone of you are special. When we chat, shout or leave comments it’s a great feeling knowing that out in this vast world called cyber space there are decent people. I hope that I have given you all smiles and laughs and in someway I made you feel special. What you see is the real me I hope I am never mean or cruel to anyone because I am not even that way face to face. What you get when you deal with me is the real thing Crazy as I am that is me. SO please know I do not think that what happened ( yet again) came from any of you. I do not think anyone of you could hurt me , or insult me the way I was in the email I received today. I think each and everyone of you are decent kind caring and I have the utmost respect for all of you. Huggzzz to each of you. Now the reason for this blog. If you read any one my other blogs I am better at writing in a informative format then to just ramble on about why I am hurt. So here

Enough
that hug wasnt long enough if i could spend ever moment of every day in ur arms i would never have a bad one. the calls never carry enough words, becuase ever word that falls from your lips, i only wish for one more, there werent enough tears shed when you left. because i only hoped that i could look up and ur hand would wipe them away. so i have saved some tears for you to catch. i have saved some words, for the next phone call. and many more hugs for the next time i run into your arms.

Enough! Damn!
Ya know this is just fucking old same shit on here the whining bitching moaning oh he blocked me deleted me blah blah blah same old shit different person it comes down to a little fucking thing called respect hell if you dont like someone why the fuck do you add them? better yet if you arent going to talk to them or at least return a fucking rating again why add them? im so sick of the so called legends "not all just most" who wont even give you a simple comment back on your page. fucking point whores i swear..... another thing the mumms wtf is so hard about what it stands for make up my mind its not a place for videos or stash items cry about how bad your day is in the bulletins or blogs lol like this i guess oh well just ranting yeah its marked nsfw since the last fucktard marked me one for saying bitch in it... fucking childish i thought this was a fucking bar meaning adults.....

Enough Is Enough
How many times do you have to tell someone that your through and have them believe it. Tired of the harassment and bothering the all the time on my case wishing that something would get through and nothing has at one time we were as close as two peas in a pod but grew apart and nothing is going to change that. Hope this may make feelings known and the intended person gets the idea.

Enough!
THIS ISN'T BEING WRITTEN TO NO ONE INPARTICULAR, BUT IF YOU FEEL LIKE IT WAS DIRECTED TOWARDS YOU... WELL ALL I CAY SAY IS IF THE SHOE FITS WEAR IT! SO NOW I'M GOING TO VOICE MY OPINION, I'VE SEEN AND HEARD SEVERAL CASES ABOUT MEN CHEATING ON WOMEN, AND BABY MAMA DRAMA AND WHAT NOT!! BUT I ALSO SEE US AS BEING A WOMAN HAVING THE WILL POWER TO SAY WHEN ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. BUT REALLY WHEN IS ENOUGH... ENOUGH?!?! WE GET WHAT WE ALLOW MEN TO DO TO US. SOME OF US SIT THERE AND COMPLAIN THAT HE DOES THIS HE DOES THAT, BUT HAVE YOU EVER STOP TO THINK YOUR THE ONE THAT LETS HIM?? IF HE'S NOT WILLING TO CHANGE THEN HE'S SIMPLY NOT WORTH IT. ALSO I'VE SEEN CASES WHERE THE MAN "PROVES TO CHANGE" BUT GETS CAUGHT DOING WHAT HE WAS SUPPOSE TO CHANGE FROM THE START... THEN I SEE THE WOMAN WHO CLAIM TO BE THE ONE AND ONLY BUT DEEP DOWN INSIDE SHE KNOWS DAMN WELL SHES NOT, AND PROBABLY NEVER WILL BE. THEY SAY IF A MANS A CHEATER HE WILL ALWAYS BE A CHEATER, BUT THERE ARE THOSE RARE CASES THAT SOME MEN DO

Enough!
can't any woman be FUCKIN honest????!!!!!!!!that's why i don't love or fuck anybody. is this a modern woman thing to be dishonest with everybody??!you ask guys to be honest and etc.,etc. but you cant even do anything of the above.this is not one person i am referring to, but maybe if those persons are reading this will either feel a little guilt or even have some self-evaluation.my last relationship ended in a nightmare because i saw her as the most beautiful person on earth, but because of society she had to conform quickly to gain fakeass admirers.or maybe it's to keep up with the latest trend... hell if i know.i wanted to do our thing together. both of us to look good and be healthy.wait... i'm going off the subject and whining.back on the topic...every single woman i've met since then have had some sorta angle.. they are unhappy in their relationship... oops! i have another man...let's go out--oh i have something to do..BULLSHIT!STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP FUCKING LYING

Enough With The Beatles Songs!!!
Back in the day the Beatles made some pretty snazzy songs, such as "why don't we do it in the road?" and others, but today their songs are used for every single damn product. From chase bank, to target, to razors and even an entire movie that contained nothing but a bunch of hippies singing Beatles song. Shitty-ass covers of decent Beatles songs are everywhere! It's annoying as hell. How about a little originality and stop fucking with decent oldies? Back to that movie, Across the Universe, what a dumb concept. A bunch of hippies having to be sent off to 'nam, singing songs that don't have anything to do with the character's situations. I hope that the man who thought up that movie gets cancer. I'm not talking about lung cancer, gets kemo and the cancer goes away, and they live a long a happy life. I'm talking about brain cancer, and the person lives at least another bed-riddin 20-45 years wishing they were dead. So I guess what I'm trying to say, seeing shitty co

Enough Already
I am addressing this blog to two people I know an care about dearly...enough is enough...you both need to stop abusing either other..i love you both dearly and think the world of you...to the one stop gripping at the other this is online...and the other you know what you been doing...stop it or karma is going to come back to get you again plain an simple..leave your past where it lies as in the saying let sleeping dogs lie theres a reason to why things back then never made it to your future...you both are good people with loving hearts...for the past few weeks I've been stuck in the middle of a battle between the two of you...it feels like I am being made to chose and I won't do it anymore I can't... the past is the past and my past is where it belongs...you both have issues to work on and you both need to just drop the flags and work on each other...im not blaming neither one of you but when it all comes down to it...you both need to stop running each other down...i respect you both a

Enough Is Enough
I don’t normally do it, but it was finally time to do it. I quit my job. I am not the type of person to quit a job without having something lined up, but even I have my limits. First off this was my job: Push carts of cooked fish around a floor that weigh between 250 to 300 pounds, eight hours a day. Basically I move around 250,000 pounds of fish a day. Forget the fact that any requests for assistance went virtually unheard and it started to mess my back up. Forget the fact that when I missed work due to the fact that my back was too strained to go in that the floor was run like shit. Forget the fact that upon returning everyone told me how happy they were to see me. The fact is this.... Upon confronting a fellow employee about a wise-ass drawing he did, informing him that I did not find it humorous and that it would be brought to the attention of my supervisor, he followed me to my work station from his yelling. I let that slide, informed my supervisor and went on doing my job.

Enough Is Enough Already (tysm "liberated Spice")
Let’s Get Her to Godmother!!!!! Only 694,543 to go. Jenn is always helping everyone so lets return the love. And make her GODMOTHER .... Let’s make her the next one on fubar. ~*Huggable*Lovable*Kissable*Jen*~Fu Wife 2 "Goofball" *DSC* Fu Owned by "Photobug"

Enough With The Sex!
Hi everybody! I'd like to take the time today to talk about Pervocity, but first I'd like to say this...To all the Nancys out there who I'm about to offend: GET BENT! Ok, now that I have that out of the way, I feel better. I don't know if anyone has noticed, but the definition of Pervocity differs from person to person. Everyone has a line that they won't cross, and if you've done something that makes you feel icky inside, you've crossed a line. That said, there are sometimes when crossing the line is a good thing. The definition given here is my opinion only, based on my own experience. So all of you who are easily offended, and those who disagree can go F*$ yourselves! Now that I've alienated my entire audience, I can continue. Pervocity is a funny thing. What's pervy to one person is just Wednesday to someone else. In my estimation and experience, I have to say that Pervocity is a very good thing. It gets a really bad rap however by those who take it to a icky place.

Enough
I had just about all that i can take of the shallow people here tonight. I've sent requests,fanned,rated,sent drinks,bought blasts,gave out bling and i can't even get a thank you from the majority of the people? Nice guy from NJ you fucken rock! Everyone else can lick my ass for being ungrateful fuckheads!!!!!!!!

Enough
Recently I overheard a mother and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had announced the departure. Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the mother said, 'I love you and I wish you enough'. The daughter replied, 'Mom, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Mom'. They kissed and the daughter left. The mother walked over to the window where I was seated. Standing there I could see she wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on her privacy but she welcomed me in by asking, 'Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?'. Yes, I have,' I replied. 'Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever good-bye?'. 'I am old and she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality is - the next trip back will be for my funeral,' she said. 'When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, 'I wish you enough'. May I ask what that means?'.

Enough Is Enough
I have told myself I would start the year off without BS in my life,its almost 6 months into the year and I am ass deep in it. I told myself I would deal with peoples bs once I hit 30, again, Im still dealing with it. I am at the age where I ask why. I do the right thing and I still get fucked in the end. Do people like stringing each other along? Is that the new thing? All I ask is for honesty, is that so much to ask? I know we all come on here and put on a persona to get away from the real world. I dont put up a front. I use this to get away but I say who I really am. I am not a blip on the screen, nor Im here for someones amusement. But whats the sense?? I keep it real and I tell it how it is. And I still get screwed

Enough Already
well seems like the last few months havent really been going well for me first it started out with a kidney infection. that i had to miss work cause of it and now i have a wisdom tooth that is starting to absess and do you think i could find a oral surgon that takes my medical insurance well so far no such luck cause iam older then 21 dont you just love that. i herd you can die from a absess tooth is that true if so . is going to go panic.. o ya the dentist said he wants all of my wisdom teeth out the sooner the better but only 1 is absessing. and i thought a really strong pain med would help me sleep all night boy i was so wrong. believe it or not i took hydrocodone and it took it along time to work it kinda seemed like the tooth ache over powerd the pain med if thats possible cause i didnt get to sleep very long..

Enough?
just in case you didn't notice, some have boobs and some do not. its not that simple but a good place to start. its a good place to mark out the "us" and the "them". and surely we notice the "them"s range from buds to way beyond ample. how much is enough? obviously it is enough when the woman wearing them is satisfied. to hell with the dumbass lover who can't get too much. then there are nipples -

Enough!!
I WISH YOU ENOUGH Recently I overheard a mother and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had announced the departure. Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the mother said, "I love you and I wish you enough". The daughter replied, "Mom, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Mom". They kissed and the daughter left. The mother walked over to the window where I was seated. Standing there I could see she wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on her privacy but she welcomed me in by asking, "Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?". Yes, I have," I replied. "Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever good-bye?". "I am old and she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality is - the next trip back will be for my funeral," she said. "When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, 'I wish you enough'. May I ask what that

Enough Is Enough. I Have Taken My Stand!!!!
I do not now if you will all agree with me over this or not. This is only my opinion. I believe marriage is sacred and should be only between a man and a woman (legally). The supreme court has ruled to allow same sex marriage (leagally) in California. The NOM is asking others to support a Ammendment ballot for reversing the decision. I am supporting this measure and I hope you will too. You can go to this website to donate for the cause and all funds go to the NOM. Thanks in advance. http://nomcalifornia.kintera.org/allen4kids if the link does not work then just copy and paste in a new window.

Enough
Liars....we all know them. We are not immune to them, we deal with them everyday. It is the ones that listen TO the liars that really get under my skin. There has been several things said in the last few weeks...those involved know who they are. I can guarantee that if I have something to say, I will tell you. I will not sneak behind your back, I will not hide behind anyone. I will tell you flat out. There is someone that is trying to drag my name through the mud. It is getting old. I am now in a happy place, let me stay there. I left hell, and I will not be drug back into it because of the affiliation that I am a member of. I can guarantee that if I have a problem with you, I will tell you. If I have an issue, we will discuss it like adults. I ask for the same respect. I never have and I never will hide behind another person, I can fight my own battles. If I start one, I will finish it, rest assured.

Enough With The Damn Bouncer Checks Already.
A while ago they installed bouncer checks to curb all the comment bombing that was going on. So you don't comment bomb and think you're immune? Think again. Now they show up randomly while your rating photos, reading someone's profile, going back and forth through a profile and even sending private messages to other people. They sure have sucked the fun out of this place ever since the Lost Cherry days.

Enough Is Enough
hey everyone, i know none of you read these but it is here for anyone that wonders where i am. I'm only gonna be online to use my 11's from now on. I'm tired of the bitching and the nosy people who try to run other people's lives. I've seen friendships ruined by this website and those people stupid enough to get into some kind of relationship (me included) i've seen those ruined also. You guys can speak to me in yahoo or msn if you want yahoo id: cardiff_girl_emz@yahoo.com msn id: marshy16@hotmail.com It's been fun, but ya got to know when enough is enough...and this is mine. Love and Hugs Take Care Welsh Girl...AKA...Emma Lou x X x

Enough To Cause Me Anticipation
JULY 30TH, 2008 BLOG ENTRY As I sit here waiting for a video to upload, or be created, I find all of this useless time on my hands. Sure, I follow my FSWO plan and routinely use bungee cords to exercise with during such moments. I play the drums. I play basketball, when my back pain permits it. I use my fitness machine, I beat the holy hell out Otis, my heavy bag. And this year, I have been wearing my hair short and want to be consistent about getting out in the sun. I havent spent much time on the screenplay. I believe that I have enough that I could meet a 2 week deadline for completion. I have been training my voice and taken an interest in learning other instruments, like the keyboard or guiatar. I also find it easy to come up with an original score in my head and the lyrics just seem to flow. I need a way other than drums to express my songs. I have no inclination that I will make it as a rockstar, but it is one aspect I would like to have some development in as an a

Enough
i can't take it anymore. the caring about people just to get hurt. i don't know what to do any more. i don't know how much i can take. fuck i don't even know why i do this. let myself get this way. to care about someone to give them help and to guide them when they ask and yet i'm supposed to just sit back and watch them destroy themselves. i can't do tihs. my sister keeps fucking around with all these guys and now she got herself into a possion that she can't get out of and one of them is mentally abusing her. playing these mind games with her to make her feel like shit so she will stay with him by threatening to do harm to himself. and she keeps falling for it even when his own roommate says that 's what he's doing. i know that i should give up but not to sure that i can. am i falling for the same shit? am i setting myself up once again for another fall? i though i had my ability to care under control. once again i was wrong.

Enough Already
Too many wanna do little to nothing they beg for bling they want suto 11s and want everyone to kiss their butts. Guess what I've had a few hhs auto 11s I've got my share of bling and more in my thoughts and I never asked for a thing it means much more than askin. I'm an oracle at the moment and I did it all in under a year and in that year I missed over 3 months but I got there. Like me or not the fact is get over it and the points let the points rankings and everything else come as it does. If I have autos ts about helping me and my friends. not getting my butt kissed but everyone.

Enough Is Enough Free Me
So here I am writing my first blog on fubar which i do have several on blogger and myspace. Here I am going to school full time and working to full time job but I still can't please anyone. People still want more from me. I am trying to better myself but i just seem to keep falling farther behind and can't get ahead. Where is the limit when people can finally say he has done enough and he can't do no more so lets give him a break. I have sadly come to realize that in the economy that we are in nothing you do will ever be enough people will always expect more. So for me I guess I am stuck in this prison and can't get out though I hope that when I finally graduate ( fall of 2010) I will be able to finally break free.

Enough With The Damn Drama!!!
Hard2Handle Rate/Re-Rate Day!! She attractsHatredJealousyand Envyfrom other Women! She brings outLustDesireObsessioninMen! This is.. Auto's On!!! Hard 2 Handle ~La*La's FuWife~@ fubarWhat ever emotion she has brought out in you, stop by and pay her a visit! Rate or Re-Rate!Add or Fan if you haven't already!!Male or Female, there's bound to be something in her albums that WILL tickle your fancy!! Brought to you by:DUH!MsCharlotte2U~ No Rate~No Add~@ fubarPlease Re-Post! DON'T FORGET THE RATE THIS BLOG! THANKS SO MUCH!

Enough
I've had my fill. I can't seem to make anyone happy. Can I just die already, please. I've been told all my life how much of a failure I'd be, and to that end I've fought and fought and fought against that. Well I'm out of fight. I just can't fight anymore. I feel very alone and very down. I used to wonder when this woman who was supposed to make me happy and everything great was comming but now I don't really know if she'll ever be comming

Enough Is Enough..don't Ask Me To Rate You If You're Not Going To Rate Me.
This is the person who provoked me in to writing this previous blog. Don't get me wrong Auto 11's are great they help us level. But please don't assume I will come by and just rate your pictures because you have them on. My friends and family all know that I will rate them regardless if they have auto 11's on or not. They also stop by my page and rate me regardless. I'm just getting so tired of people rating one picture and maybe the profile and then come to expect that I will rate all their pictures because of an Auto 11. Those of us that don't have auto's on on a regular basis need help leveling..so where's our help?? He hit me up again to rate his pictures because he has auto 11's on and was apparently blinging people who rates (who knows if that's even true). He has not once hit up any of my pictures at all not even 1. Now, we all need to level up and the only way to get there is by rating our friends. But Derak&Candy don't have the decency to rate the people that th

Enough Bullshit
I posted this on the profile in answer to the blog that Lord Alucard put up about his fake west virgina marriage to christie or jessica or whoever she is pretending to be today. "from what i saw in the convo that she had with lucky, she knew he was gonna do it and IGNORED it and him, saying she wasnt gonna talk to him until the 6th. so if she already knew he was gonna do it, why did she do NOTHING AT ALL?????? he killed himself on wednesday, his brother told us on thursday. no one told her a week before hand that he did this, HE told her he was gonna do it, and she IGNORED HIM. i have seen the convo where she said it. and if she cared for him just soo much, why didnt she try to stop him?? and why did she leave a comment on his page on feb 10th saying she loved him and then turn around the next day and announce that she was marrying you?? yeah i think we have had enough of this bullshit with you two to last us a lifetime. " i know it will be deleted before anyone else can see it, a

Enough
I have finally last week had enough of a lot of things . I am tired of certain people taking advantage of me , and thinking I am an idiot. Well the way I see it let them think it . In my opinion let them think tha , because I am back to my old ways . I know I promised a lotf people I wouldn't ,but I am more effective when I am the way I used to be . I will be selective on who I let get close , but what they have to understand is I keep mostly to myself. One of the habits they who I let in will have to understand is I am the type of person that if I see something as a threat I will remove the problem permanantly . by any means possible.

Enough
when i call he doesnt listen my eyes tearing the walls of the house answerd me he might never come back is it possible that love became so blind?? cant tell the good from bad?? the walls could tell but i couldnt i did ask the roses they start to cry the roses crying but not telling not telling where are you?? its enough enough being far away enough sorrow and apologies if i wasnt faithfull loyal the walls wouldnt tell wouldnt speak enough ------------------------ W,B: far7an moussa

Enough Pictures Of Your Face!
OK...so as I am creeping up on my 2 year anniversary on here...the one thing I am noticing is that pages of pictures of the opposite sex fall into basically 2 catagories... 1. Tons of pictures of themselves and friends from ALL angles...standing, sitting, naked, whatever...you get a real sense of who they are by the people around them and by seeing ALL of them. Not naked..but head to toe anyhow. 2. The "Headshot Queens" You can go look at over 200 of basically the SAME picture of their face snapped in shitty lighting with a web cam. Making a face isn't changing the picture. After you have seen 2 or 3...you have seen it ALL. I mean think about it....what does that say about your creativity? Your personality? Mix it up, show yourself OFF...but from now on I am boycotting the Headshot Queens...

Enough Is Enough
I know I haven't posted in a while but I figured what do I gotta loose. I have been avoiding posting my rants because I figured Id let it get to me until I pop. Well I didn't pop but I feel like Im loosing more of my life. There is more drama on some sites more than anything else. Someone I met on here claimed she liked me and thought I was cheating on them by the 'sexy comments' I made on here, then my other ex complained about the number of female friends I got and the # of calls I got. I dont know what I am anymore, I dont know who really is into me, because Im treated like a yo-yo. Now again, this is a rant, I was attacked for my rant, but you know what I dont care. What does it take to get someone who is honest with their feelings.

Enough
I was recently dumped. Not really a big deal, I hadn’t invested a lot of feelings into the relationship or anything. Thing is, this guy basically told me that I'm too intense, too passionate (as if that's a problem in this day & age). He actually said "Your passion doesn't let you see past the moment that you're in. At each beginning, I'm guessing that you would think that "this" might be the one ... You throw your entire worth and being into the relationship". I know what you're thinking "Did this guy even know you?" ... I have to say no. If you know me ... you know that my passion is with me in everything I do in life. I "throw my entire worth and being" into my entire life. It's what got me through losing so much over the years. It's what brought me to Washington. It's what pushes me to succeed despite every obstacle I've come up against. Someone once told me that I have the ability to make a person feel like they're the only person in the world. What makes that such a bad

Enough Is Enough!!!!!!
Others Have Died This Month Sooooooo True!! With no disrespect intended to the Jackson family, this sure does reveal the shallowness of our value system in this country. While the focus today, tomorrow and for the next God-knows-how-many-days will be the death of a pop culture icon; while many will mourn, wail and quite literally make fools of themselves over it and while many will speak endlessly about it, allow me, if only for a moment, to remind us all that others have died this month; others whose lives were cut short; others who leave behind loved ones and whose families will dearly miss them; families who'll suffer with much more dignity and honor than we'll be exposed to on the tube in the coming days. Yes... it's true... we've suffered a great loss... but forgive me while I tell you that I'm not talking about the king of pop music. These American military members died in Iraq this month: Sergeant Justin J. Duffy Specialist Christopher M. Kurth Specialist Charles

Enough Already
Why do the fuckin assholes who live behind me think I wanna hear rtheir mariachi bullshit fucking music every day all fuckin day> Iswear to fuck I am about to go postal. I am calling INS fuck this shit *end rant*

Enough Of
I had enough of this death and gloom stuff. We are all going to die sooner or later. I might today, tomorrow, or whenever. Get over it and move on as I try my best to live as I see fit without hurting others and certainly myself. The Order has to say on it the following, Rosicrucian Order AMORC and without the AMORC it could be any nonsense that's out here. OK! As I said I get nothing except maybe good karma for mentioning them. They been around awhile and has many misconception about them. One of them is The da Vinci Code and what followed. TMO is within it and it means Traditional Martinist Order. You have to reach a certain level to appy for them. The Order and it's teaching is very fundamental. Includes philosophy, religion, math, physics, biology, chemistry, and others. Also different technique for concentration and meditation. Other than that enjoy life as much as possible and when the bad things happen remeber there is a possibility of a better future. Never truly give up or a

Enough
Do you ever get enough , So Down and feeling used . when your bodies bound and broken , weak and confused . When Your Highs are in a bottle, Sitting on a shelf . And Everyone finds you , When You cant find yourself . When every dream is broken , And All hope is lost . Every battle fought , Isnt worth The cost., When you barley make enough , To barley wake up . So tired of living, your ready to give up . Come to me , When youve had enough . Come to me , Let me lift you up . Turn To Me , When This world has called your bluff . You and I , weve both had enough . Your backed against a wall , And you Just cant see . So brusied and bent , That You Lack reality . Deamons calling you , They all know your name . Reminding constantly , That nothing feels the same . Come to me , When youve had enough , Come to me , Let me Lift You up , Turn to me , When This world has called your bluff . You And I , Weve Both Had enough .

Enough
Snuff lyricsSongwriters: Crahan, Michael Shawn; Fehn, Chris; Gray, Paul D; Jones, Craig A; Jordison, Nathan J; Root, James Donald; Taylor, Corey; Thomson, Mickael; Bury all your secrets in my skinCome away with innocence and leave me with my sinsThe air around me still feels like a cageAnd love is just a camouflage for what resembles rage againSo if you love me let me goAnd run away before I knowMy heart is just too dark to careI can?t destroy what isn?t thereDeliver me into my fateIf I?m alone I cannot hateI don?t deserve to have youOoh, my smile was taken long agoIf I can change I hope I never knowI still press your letters to my lipsAnd cherish them in parts of me that savor every kissI couldn?t face a life without your lightsBut all of that was ripped apart when you refused to fightSo save your breath, I will not careI think I made it very clearYou couldn?t hate enough to loveIs that supposed to be enough?I only wish you weren?t my friendThen I could hurt you in the endI never cla

Enough Is Enough....................
I have been On Fubar since it was Lost Cherry and have left twice before and found my way back and starting over. I guess I always came back because of the "real" friends I have on here. But now I am at the end of the road. One of the people I trusted and thought wouldn't hurt me has betrayed me and turned people against me. I thought I could get through it and ignore it after i blocked him but enough is enough. I am sick and people that are close to me including him knows I am and I can't take the stress he is putting me through on here. I won't mention his name on here because unlike him I won't do that to him. All I can say is he has threatened me, called me horrible names and has gone as far as wish that my illness takes my life. If that isn't enough he is dragging my name through the mud and I have done none of the things he is saying about me. Maybe if I was in better health I could stand up to him and deal with it but I just can't anymore. He is buying friends of mine on her

Enough Of That
Everything became a confrontation and I had enough of that with my ex wife and ex live in girl friend. I have no phone call or any type of communication with her this morning. Yet I have her dog and I'm a care taker. I guess it was her daughter telling me you should be here. She asked me to pet sit her dog to which I agreed but that time is now over. I told her privately as I thought possible, since when she's angry I can't say anything that our relationship was over. I will have her Cell Phone and charger on the kitchen table. I'll be gone this morning but as it turned out I rescheduled my appointment. Also that I'll step out when she comes. I had enough. I'm the bad guy and I truly wonder what happened with her previous marriages and relationships? Glory to God N

Enough
Why do I bother.What is there to gain. I like having friends and being around people.Ever feel like its not enough.NO matter how hard you try, your best isn`t enough.I am tired and old.I want the people around me happy.Yeah I like my life,sometimes its not enough. Laughing makes me happy, and yes i do cry. When I get down, I pick myself back up.Why because thats all I know to do.Tell me just this one thing! Am I the only one thats does get ENOUGH.

Enough
Set up.... I was with a guy for years, it was long distance because of his profession. and I gave more than I ever got. After trying time and time again to explain my feelings and what I needed to happen in the relationship and countless times of him acting up.. I finally told him I was done. Now he has all the apologies and time for me that he couldnt seem to find while we were together. When is enough, enough? How long do you "work" on a relationship with someone before you just let it go? And why do you think people seem to "act right" after you have had enough and are completely done? PS - this NOT a current situation for me. It is just something I posted for the blog. PLEASE NO NEED TO COUNSEL ME IN MY SHOUTS OR PM'S. As with all other questions.. please stay on subject and IF YOU CANT BE HONEST - DONT COMMENT. Please check out the other questions of the day. Please Rate This Blog

Enough Already...
Just when I thought life had gotten the best of me it decided to knock me a little farther down. Today my husband got subpeonaed(sp?) at work with a restraining order against his kids. It seems they have decided they'd like to go live with her now. They claim that the living conditions here are unacceptable and that they can't handle living with my kids. OMG!! I keep this place spotless. The kids claimed they do all the cleaning...but all they have are regular chores! Taking out the trash, dishes once in a while and the oldest had to make dinner occasionally when I was kept late at work. There was even something in there about having to listen to us have sex. Sheesh! The walls in this house are thin but my god...it's not like we're yelling and screaming and hanging from chandeliers. Ugh. This is so unreal. Now we have to go to court on Monday and figure out what the hell is happening.

Enough, Seriously...
Before reading this, please be advised that when I originally posted this, I was red with rage and blue with sadness. I am a creature of emotion and for better or worse, operate as such. Contained herein is the foulest of language to be sure, but I wrote it from the heart. I won't edit it because I see no reason to. I want everyone to know how upset I was at the moment of it's conception. It may falsely represent me as immature or impulsive, but it is, as they say, what it is... Those of you that I speak with on a regular basis are well aware of how I feel about the hate mongering, attention whoring, self serving, closet cock sucking demonic douche bags of the Westboro Baptist Church. Well, I guess everyone is now...but anyways, I feel it is time that the group is finally recognized for what they truly are, an organized gang of hatebreeding trolls and there needs to be some sort of action taken to ensure that there is some sort of imposed regulation against these inbred hate-filled de

Enough Is Enough
Clevland Elementary School, Columbine High School,Amish school shooting,Virginia Tech, Sandyhook, Aurora Co, Oregon Mall shooting. These all have one common thread, assult weapons and high capicity magazines were used and many additional rounds were found in each case. How many more innocent men, women and childeren must die before action is taken? Assault weapons are meant for one thing, killing! They can not be used for hunting. I have personally shot the AR-15 and see no need for people to own them. Our 2nd Amendment does not guarantee the right to posess these weapons. The high capacity magazines these weapons use are for killing many without having to re load. Personally, I have a 9mil and 40 cal and the standard clips are enough. Please do as I have done, write your state senators and cogressmen/women and encourage them to pass Sen Diane Feinstein's upcoming bill to totally ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines with no grandfathering ammendment. It's time to show t

Enoy This Poem I Written Awhile Back
Silent is the tongue Wondering is the soul The beat of the ehart goes on The edge of enternity is seen Windows are the eyes The touch of the hand is felt The breath of the winded life What do these things mean The mystery of man's pride To the brotherhood of men The exotic of a woman virtue Or the sisterhood of women The spirit is sound The body is troubled these things and more come naturally Yet as a thinker of thoughts A writer of words A poet of sentnces I traverse these trails in silence of the tongue I think can I be a bard Or am I a bard unknown in thoughts and words The silence of the tongue continues The voice doesn't speack The mind continues to traverse these thoughts Ever more is the silence Silence is the tongue Silence of the voices Silent's Tongue Shhhhh

Enquiring Minds Want To Know.....
ENQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW WELL WE KEEP GETTING ASKED WHERE WE ARE AND WHY WE ARE NOT AROUND AS MUCH ANYMORE.THE SIMPLE FACT IS KARIZMA AND I HAVE BEEN LIVING TOGETHER FOR ALMOST 3 MONTHS NOW. WE ARE CONCENTRATING ON OUR REAL LIVES INSTEAD OF ONLINE STUFF. SHOULD MAKE SENSE RIGHT??? NOW THAT WE ARE LIVING TOGETHER WE DON'T REALLY NEED TO BE ON HERE AS MUCH ANYMORE. GRANTED WE DO LIKE TO COME IN TO CHECK IN WITH OUR FRIENDS AND WHAT NOT. NOW TO CLEAR UP A FEW THINGS. YES THERE ARE COUNTLESS MUMMS THAT HAVE BEEN POSTED IN THE LAST YEAR FROM A 3RD PARTY BRINGING PRIVATE BUSINESS FOR ALL OF FUBAR TO SEE HEY MORE POWER TO YA IF YOU NEED TO AIR ALLLL THE DIRTY LAUNDRY. BUT UMM NOT TO BE MEAN BUT I MEAN ITS BEEN A YEAR ISN'T IT TIME TO JUST MOVE ON? SOMETIMES RELATIONSHIPS DON'T WORK OUT AND ITS BEST TO GO SEPARATE WAYS BUT TO CONTINUE TO GO ON AND ON ABOUT IT AFTER A YEAR MAKES YA LOOK WELL UMM UNHAPPY? NOW AS I STATED BEFORE, SOME MUMMS HAVE BEEN POSTED AND WEL

Enraptured
Enraptured When midnight's orb doth shine so bright and stars are scattered overhead I wander out into the night in search of thee I tread I find thee naked in the light a wondrous beauty to gaze upon Enraptured, captured at first sight of your body framed by the dawn I reach out and take thee in my arms press my quivering lips to thine I feel the heat of your soft twin charms burning hot against hardened heart of mine Mine hand doth brush across thy breast like butterfly wings cross gentle breeze The passions rise like ocean crest and we make love in the shade of the trees Kevin Dustin

Enraptured Fulfillment
Enraptured Fulfillment by LateNiteFantasy© kneeling at the altar of my goddess' verdant love giving thanks and praise indulging my hunger the taste of heaven the fragrance of paradise sunrise pearlescence drizzling piquance suckling, devouring pleasure traversing ardor's sublime sluice you are my everything pinnacle of fruition I cannot can not ever get enough gently stroking your hair watching you enraptured your head softly rests on my thigh mouth warm wet enveloping tongue wrapping glistening lips around muscular shaft pleasing me, directing me loving me savor my taste, my scent memorize my size dream of me when we're apart oh my love I wish it were like this forever swallow my love for you deeper swallow for you ...lost... glistening cock in your small hand eyes locked wet slow kisses ankles locked behind my back breasts pressed to the sweat of my chest sliding into you forcefully, lovingly this is where we belong you in my arm

Enrapture
Even though I'm not with you physically... I am with you...making you burn inside with life.. But You know I make you feel deeply inside yourself... So as your soul touched by mine..completely...and tenderly.. I have you captured.... And utterly Enraptured... LOVE

Enraptured Again
Enraptured Again by LateNiteFantasy© I love to lick and nibble at her crevices, And taste the sweet juices that flow. As her smooth flesh yields to my touch, And softens, parting to reveal her exquisite delicacy. As I delve deeper into her, Caressing her, Prolonging the rapture, I take my time. Gently teasing her and with my mouth, Taking each morsel of her pleasure, Within to urge me onward. I’m moving faster now, While prolonging this orgasm of the senses, Until I reach her very centre, As I take in the very last of her, Her final juices come forth in torrent. Our pleasure done we rest having drunk our fill, She lies with me as one, Gloriously devoured, We are complete. There is naught left but the memory, Of her juices, her textures, her ripe and flushed colours. I relish her full and ripe fruit, Given enrapture on a warm afternoon."

Enrapture
In the night so dark Her hair blows softly over her eyes Heart jumping as she feels him close A single touch upon her cheek Wiping the single tear shed A soft whispering on the wind His arms closing around her waist Hot breath reassuring her His wings clasping her tightly Eyes closed in warmth Her hands resting on his Locking in embrace To this we share A love An understanding Relating deeply To this end

Enrgy Drink
'Cocaine' energy drink to change name after pressure by 'the man' by Rob Lever 1 hour, 56 minutes ago WASHINGTON (AFP) - The maker of Cocaine Energy Drink announced Tuesday it was changing the name of the beverage in the face of pressure from officials and others who claimed it glamorized illegal drug use. ADVERTISEMENT Redux Beverages LLC said its caffeine-loaded drink -- which contains no cocaine despite the name -- would get a new name but that the company would continue to fight for the right to bring back the "Cocaine" name. The Las Vegas, Nevada-based firm said it took the action in the face of "threats" by the US Food Drug Administration (FDA) and state officials. A statement said the company was "agreeing temporarily to cease distribution of the Cocaine Energy Drink until the legality of using the name 'Cocaine' can be firmly established." "Obviously, we were forced to stop shipping the drink as 'Cocaine' for now, but we're not done fighting for our r

Enrique Iglesias - Hero Lyrics
Enrique Iglesias - Hero Lyrics (Whispered) Let me be your hero Would you dance if I asked you to dance? Would you run and never look back Would you cry if you saw me crying Would you save my soul tonight? Would you tremble if I touched your lips? Would you laugh oh please tell me these Now would you die for the one you love? Hold me in your arms tonight? (Chorus) I can be you hero baby I can kiss away the pain I will stand by you forever You can take my breath away Would you swear that you'll always be mine? Would you lie would you run away Am I in to deep? Have I lost my mind? I don't care you're here tonight Chorus I just want to hold you (2x) Am I in too deep? Have I lost my mind? Well I don't care you're here tonight Chorus (2x) You can take my breath my breath away I can be your hero

Enrique Iglesias-somebody's Me
You, do you remember me?, Like, I remember you? Do you spend your life, going back in your mind to that time?, Cause I, I walk the streets alone, I hate being on my own, and everyone can see that, I really fell, and I'm going through hell. Thinking about you with somebody else. Somebody wants you, Somebody needs you. Somebody dreams about you every single night. Somebody cant breathe, without you it's lonely. Somebody hopes that one day you will see, that somebody's me. That somebody's me. yeaa... How, how did we go wrong? It was so good, and now it's gone, And I pray at night, that our path's soon will cross. What we had, isn't lost. Cause you are always right here in my thoughts.. Somebody wants you, Somebody needs you. [Somebody's Me lyrics on http://www.metrolyrics.com] Somebody dreams about you every single night. Somebody can't breathe, without you it's lonely. Somebody hopes that someday you will see, That somebody's me. Oh yeah... You w

Enrique Iglesias Do You Know
Enrique Iglesias Do You Know (Ping Pong Song) Lyrics Do you know? Do you know? Do you know what it feels like loving someone that’s in a rush to throw you away? Do you know, do you know, do you know, do ya? Do you know what it feels like to be the last one to know the lock on the door has changed? If birds flying south is a sign of changes At least you can predict this every year Love, you never know the minute it ends suddenly I can’t get it to speak Maybe if I knew all the things it took to save us I could fix the pain that bleeds inside of me Look in your eyes to see something about me I’m standing on the edge and I don’t know what else to give. Do you know what it feels like loving someone that’s in a rush to throw you away? Do you know, do you know, do you know, do ya? Do you know what it feels like to be the last one to know the lock on the door has changed? How can I love you? How can I love you? How can I love you? How can I love you? If yo

Enrique Iglesias Push Lyrics
(Lil' Wayne) Fly boy yeah right Hey mamma they call me Wheezy You should be with me I gotta pocket full of reasons Baby I can bless you when you ain’t even sneezing I be at your rescue when you don’t even need me I can have you dreaming when you ain't even sleeping Mamma I can help you get off like the weekend You said what you wanna do it to the new Enrique I pop the disc in and put the song on replay And then she backed it up like replay (Enrique) When you need me Girl I try to hide it But I can’t escape it oh baby Please forgive me When I think of you my thoughts are so x-rated oh baby Baby I don’t give a damn I know that your man's no where insight oh oh And your eyes don’t tell a lie I know you wanna come with me tonight And I say alright But first you gotta [Chorus] Push push back upon it (girl) Make me believe you want it Push push back upon it (girl) Know I can't go on longing Push push back upon it (girl) Go ahead lay it on it (Don't stop) D

Enrique Iglesias - Ring My Bells
Ring my bell, ring my bells.. Ring my bell, ring my bells.. Ring my bell, ring my bells.. Ring my bell, ring my bells.. Sometimes you love it Sometimes you don't Sometimes you need it and you don't wanna let go.. Sometimes we rush it Sometimes we fall It doesn't matter baby we can take it real slow.. Cause the way that we touch is something that we can't deny And the way that you move oh it makes me feel alive Come on Ring my bell, ring my bells.. Ring my bell, ring my bells.. You try to hide it I know you do When all you really want is me to come and get to You move in closer I feel you breathe It's like the world just disappears when you around me oh Cause the way that we touch is something that we can't deny oh yeah And the way that you move oh you make me feel alive so Come on Ring my bell, ring my bells.. Ring my bell, ring my bells.. Ring my bell, ring my bells.. Ring my bell, ring my bells.. I say you want, I say you need I can tell by your face, you know the way it turn

Enrique...addicted
Have I told you how good It feels to be me, when I'm in you. I can only stay clean, when you are around, dont let me fall. (oh no) If I close my eyes forever, would it ease the pain could I breath again chorus Baby im addicted im out of control, your the drug that keeps me from dieing Baby I'm a liar but all I really know, is that your the only reason I'm trying I'm waisted away I made a million mistakes am I to late Theres a storm in my head, and a race on my bed when you not near. Im not afraid of dieing, but im afraid of losing you. chorus When your lying next to me, love is moving throught to me oh its beautiful Everything is clear to me till I hit reality and I loose it all, I loose it all, I loose it all. na na na na na na na na na na na na Baby I'm addicted, I'm trying, I'm trying, I'm trying Baby I'm addicted, I wanna loose it all Baby I'm a liar but all I really know is your the only reason im trying Baby I'm addicted, Baby I'm addicted, Baby I'm addicted na na na

Enrique Iglesias - Tired Of Being Sorry
"Tired Of Being Sorry" I don't know why You want to follow me tonight When the rest of the world With whom I've crossed and I've quarreled Lets me down so For a thousand reasons that I know To share forever the unrest With all the demons I possess Beneath the silver moon Maybe you were right But baby I was lonely I don't want to fight I'm tired of being sorry Eighth and Ocean Drive With all the vampires and their brides We're all bloodless and blind And longing for a life Beyond the silver moon Maybe you were right But baby I was lonely I don't want to fight I'm tired of being sorry I'm standing in the street Crying out for you No one sees me But the silver moon So far away - so outer space I've trashed myself - I've lost my way I've got to get to you got to get to you Maybe you were right But baby I was lonely I don't want to fight I'm tired of being sorry I'm standing in the street Crying out for you No one sees me But the silver moon (lalalala [till end]) Maybe you were right

Enrique Iglesias - Ring My Bells
"Ring My Bells" Ring my bell, ring my bells.. Ring my bell, ring my bells.. Ring my bell, ring my bells.. Ring my bell, ring my bells.. Sometimes you love it Sometimes you don't Sometimes you need it and you don't wanna let go.. Sometimes we rush it Sometimes we fall It doesn't matter baby we can take it real slow.. Cause the way that we touch is something that we can't deny And the way that you move oh it makes me feel alive Come on Ring my bell, ring my bells.. Ring my bell, ring my bells.. You try to hide it I know you do When all you really want is me to come and get to You move in closer I feel you breathe It's like the world just disappears when you around me oh Cause the way that we touch is something that we can't deny oh yeah And the way that you move oh you make me feel alive so Come on Ring my bell, ring my bells.. Ring my bell, ring my bells.. Ring my bell, ring my bells.. Ring my bell, ring my bells.. I say you want, I say you need I can tell by your face, you kno

Enrique Iglesias - I Have Always Loved You
Since the beginning of timeSince it started to rainSince I heard your laughSince I felt your painI was too young, you were much youngerWe were afraid of each other's [Incomprehensible]I have always loved youThere's never been anyone elseI knew you before I knew myself, oh my babyI have always loved youSince we kissed the first timeSince we slept on the beachYou were too close for comfortYou were too far out of reachYou walked away, I should have held youBut would you have stayed for me to tell you?I have always loved youThere's never been anyone elseI knew you before I knew myself, oh my babyI have always loved youThe years go by in a matter of daysAnd though we go our separate waysI never stop dreamin' of youI have always loved youWhen you call, it makes me cryWe never made time for you and IIf I could live it all againI'd never let it end, I'd still be with youOh God, I miss youI have always loved youI knew you before I knew myself, oh my babyI have always loved youThe years go by in

Enrich Your Collection With Replica Hublot Watches
Football is a very competitive sport which has a lot of fans worldwide. Continental and international competitions keep millions of men in front of the TV, watching their favorite players. It was impossible for a watch manufacturer to associate its name with this sport and to remain unknown. Hublot watches_ Hublot Big Bang collection _Hublot replica watches has only been founded in 1980, but it had many achievements ever since. Hublot Big Bang was their first and most famous collection. Hublot watches became extremely desired by football fans all over the world after Hublot Euro 2008 and Hublot World Cup 2010 were launched. Hublot watches_ Hublot Big Bang collection _Hublot replica watches was the official timekeeper in both football competitions and with both occasions it has released on the market limited editions of watches. Hublot Euro 2008 was worn by many football players and celebrities. It has a self-winding movement, a chronograph and a power reserve of 42 hours. The desi

Enron
A young city boy, Kenny, moved to the country and bought a donkey from an old farmer for $100.00. The farmer agreed to deliver the donkey the next day. The next day, the farmer drove up and said, "Sorry son, but I have some bad news. The donkey died." Kenny replied, "Well then, just give me my money back." The farmer said, "Can't do that. I went and spent it already." Kenny said, "Okay then, just unload the dead donkey." The farmer asked, "What ya gonna do with him"? Kenny said, "I'm going to raffle him off." "You can't raffle off a dead donkey!" the farmer says. "Sure I can. Watch me. I just won't tell anybody he's dead." Kenny said. A month later the farmer met up with Kenny and asked, "What happened with that dead donkey"? "I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at two dollars a piece and made a profit of $898.00." "Didn't anyone complain"? the farmer asked. "Just the guy who won. So I gave him his two dollars back." Kenny grew up and eventually

En Sang Til David Bwie
Her er en sang fra barndommen som jeg var veldig glad i. Etter min mening var kun den og Life On Mars brukendes i 1972. Den fantes på baksiden av Metal Guru-singelen, men er etter min mening enda bedre, selv om den ikke fikk plass på The Slider, albumet Bolan nesten totalt skrev til Bwie. Kan denne være skrevet til Angie? Vi har jo Stones' Angie-sang fra den samme perioden og Bwie ER the Metal Guru. Ingen tvil om det. Stones' er etter min mening imidlertid God-Awful ettersom den helt garantert ble skrivet av svirrehuet Jagger. Lady, like a like a lady like a like a I'm gonna give all my love to you Lady, like a like a lady like a like a I'm gonna dance in the rain for you Got the feeling, mama Got the feeling, mama Got to dream about it, yeah, yeah Shaking, my bones are aching I'm like a scampering train for you Baby, like a like a baby like a like a I'm gonna give my pain to you .... Metal Guru - Tin Man Enkelte ganger får man aha-opplevelser.

Ensaneti And Lilly - The Understanding
Part One: The tavern door blew open, the night rushed in, while the candles and smoking oil lamps blew out. The expected cries of surprise from the patrons of Dragon Court were curiously absent, the silence heavy and deep, thick with magicks and rituals yet to come. A sinuous current of air moved towards the stage, unseen in the darkness, yet felt. Fleetwood managed to strike a spark from a piece of flint and light the candle on the table nearest the stage. A word of command punctured the unnatural stillness. The single candle's flickering light grew into a halo that bathed the stage in amber and shadows. "Illuminae!" The blood red of her eyes fed the candle's feeble flame.Standing on the stage was stark contrast in color and affiliation. White skin of a vampire queen, black hair spilling down a gown as black as the hair, red lips, parted, revealing a glint of a white fang tip, red eyes glowing upon the man standing before her. He too, was a contrast in color. White robes

Ensign: Fashion And Faith
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 9 February 2007 Occassionally I read a devotion in the morning -- I try to do them before everyone else in the house is up, or I get distracted and procrastinate; you know how that goes -- that really strikes me better than what I was planning to write in this week's Ensign. I call it the equivalent of being hit by a spiritual 2x4, and I think you might find something in it too. The focal passage is Jeremiah 17: 5-10, and here's the devotional. Because I don't want to get in trouble for plagiarizing, here's the citation too: Grothe, Rebecca, Hanson, Laurie J., and Satter, James. (Eds.). Christ In Our Home: Light for Today. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2007, (54), 1, p. 43. It is easy to be distracted from the principles

Ensign: When You Go There
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 16 February 2007 Robert Frost's poem "The Death of the Hired Man" comes to mind as I'm writing today's devotional. At one point, he says that home is the place that when you go there they have to take you in. We hear much from the pulpit about heaven being our eternal home, but in the Bible that's not mentioned at all. I looked it up (using a search engine, not page by page -- I'm not that good ;) and found "home" mentioned only fifty-one times throughout the entire Bible. Compare that with "house" which appears 1,562 times. It's easy to say that over time, like many words from the King James Version, the meaning of the word "home" has changed. But has it? Home as a physical location where we dwell (not necessarily with f

Ensign: Come Forth!
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 2 March 2007 Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead was not your typical miracle. I know what you're thinking; just what is a typical miracle? Feeding the multitudes, cleansing the lepers, restoring the sight of the blind are also miraculous -- spontaneous cures don't happen every day, and especially around Jesus they flocked and people in their heart of hearts knew this. But the miracle recorded in John 11 was one we can analyze because we who've read the rest of the book know that in the weeks ahead Jesus is going to have the same miracle performed on Himself. Like this one, there is nobody in the story close to either Jesus or Lazarus whom it doesn't affect. The story begins in Bethany, where Mary and her sister Martha live and send a message to Jesus when Lazarus is sick. When Jesus he

Ensign: We Offer What We've Been Given
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 9 March 2007 What is forgiveness, exactly? As one person to another, I'd have to say that all I know about forgiveness is I'm not good at it. Limited in our perspective as human beings, we can't separate a person from their sins against us (or even ourselves from our sins) like God can: "as far as the east is from the west". Who among us doesn't like recognition for what we've done, especially when we've been "big" enough to offer our hand to them? There's the rub: our forgiveness of others can and often does go unrecognized by others, especially by people who don't care much for us or people who take us for granted. "God, I leave this in your hands" -- next to "I love you" or "I'm sorry", that could contend for the hardest phrase to say in the English language. In this age of high-spe

Ensign: A Little Longer Than We Expected
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 16 March 2007 Almost from the moment that the Israelites left Egypt with Moses and Aaron at their helm, it was almost nothing but work, work, work to keep the former slaves from turning back when the going got tough. From Exodus through Deuteronomy, the vision of the promised land where Abraham's descendants were promised by God Himself to settle and abound in had to keep them going, and even that could be fraught with disaster. Let's open to the book of Numbers (great read!) and starting with chapter 14, the congregation is Israel is at its usual occupation: murmuring and complaining. A little background: they'd just heard the report of the twelve spies who went into Canaan, procured a bunch of grapes so large they had to bare it

Ensign: The Prodigal Spin
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 23 March 2007 Even those of us who don't frequent the Bible should be familiar with Jesus' parable of the prodigal son. Told in Luke 15:11-32, the central figure for much of this story is the younger son who goes to his father for his part of the inheritance and proceeds to spend it quickly. When reduced as low as he can go, the son laments his decision and decides to go back to his father and become a servant. But when the father sees his son, he rushes to meet him and preparations are made for a big celebration, which the son hears and berates his father about: why the big ado about your son coming home, while I've been faithful to you? The father responds that he values his older son as well, but today he had to make merry

Ensign: The Words We Eat
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 30 March 2007 At our second worship service this past Sunday, I was holding Sarah in back and she's at the age (just turned thirteen months Wednesday!) where she'll both grab anything in her reach and try to stick things in her mouth if she's really hungry. (Which she usually is on Sunday mornings.) After stopping her from swallowing a bulletin, I half-joked that yes, it is high in fiber but ultimately not good for you. Then I remembered there was one case in the Bible of someone eating a book . . . which inspired this week's Ensign. In the tenth chapter of Revelation, we're nearly midway through the apostle John's record of a vision God gives him while in exile. From chapter four onward, Revelation has been a chronicle o

Ensign: Even We Samaritans Can Be Thankful
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 13 April 2007 One of the hard things about writing a Sunday School lesson is there's sometimes a lack of source material. The Bible itself isn't lacking so much as the story you're trying to relate; not a lot of people have done a lesson about this, so there's not a lot of experienced teaching to fall back on. Take the object of our current Sunday School rotation -- a lesson presented with different activities over several weeks -- which is Jesus' healing of the ten lepers as recorded in Luke 17:11-19. It's hard to stretch the events of nine verses (even the slowest readers won't take long to get through it) and make the story something which sticks in young hearts and minds. Not many of us have leprosy today, at any rate. But we

Ensign: First The Kingdom
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 20 April 2007 When I was considering how to approach this week's Ensign -- I'm writing about our present move into our first house here in Minot; we started Sunday and should be finished moving everything in by the time you read this -- the verse where Jesus says that foxes have holes, the birds have their nests, but the Son of Man one of His titles has no place to lay his head came to mind. (It actually appears twice, in Matthew 8:20 and Luke 9:58.) But now that I don't have to drive across town to get home to a second-story apartment but instead enter a house where if right now I don't have to navigate a slew of packed boxes I will feel like I'm living off TV dinners and being amazed at how much I didn't remember we had, I realize I have a home and I'm never really been homeless for an e

Ensign: Unforgivable
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 27 April 2007 "Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come." What Jesus says in Matthew 12:31-32 seems to fly in the face of what we know or feel we know about God Who forgives sins. What can you do that's so bad God can't forgive you? Like all sin, "blasphemy against the Holy Ghost" or Holy Spirit is based on a conscious choice we make. We should know what blasphemy is, defaming the name and character of God. But if our k

Ensign: Do You Hear Me?
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 4 May 2007 "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." First read in Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and later quoted by Jesus Himself as the greatest commandment in Mark 12:29-30, this is the beginning of the Jewish prayer Shema Yisrael. What we're given here is not only the command of God but also the truth about God. There's only One: no committees were involved in creating the heavens and the earth. I think of a riddle I read once: What can you and I see but God can never see? He can never see an equal because He has no equal, no matter how much we may try to act like one sometimes. It's hard for us to admit, it's even hard to imagine the total dedication being called for in the Shema; w

Ensign: Ananias The Good
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 11 May 2007 There are three men who go by the name of Ananias in the New Testament book of Acts. There's no evidence the three ever met or would have in the normal course of events. But each of them, just like each of us, had the call of God on their lives; in fact, the name Ananias is derived from the Hebrew proper name Hananiah which means "God is gracious". How often we forget (or seem to) that the names we're given actually mean something, often something to live up to! Regrettably, not everyone who's called by God responds in a way that honors Him -- in fact, of the three men we'll be reviewing over these weeks, only one gave his best. We'll see that the Ananias we study next study gave his least, and the final one gave only grief

Ensign: Ananias The Bad
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 18 May 2007 There are three men who go by the name of Ananias in the New Testament book of Acts. There's no evidence the three ever met or would have in the normal course of events. But each of them, just like each of us, had the call of God on their lives; in fact, the name Ananias is derived from the Hebrew proper name Hananiah which means "God is gracious". How often we forget (or seem to) that the names we're given actually mean something, often something to live up to! Regrettably, not everyone who's called by God responds in a way that honors Him -- in fact, of the three men we'll be reviewing over these weeks, only one gave his best, the Ananias in Damascus who attended the blinded Saul. We'll see that the Ananias we study this

Ensign: Ananias The Ugly
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 25 May 2007 Ananias the high priest seemed to have everything going for him. From his first appearance in Acts 23:2, he almost exudes confidence from the page and let's face it: you didn't get to be high priest (especially in Jerusalem) without hard work and diligent study. But just as Jesus castigated the scribes and Pharisees of His own day so Paul (yes, the same Paul, born Saul, who was led to salvation by Ananias of Damascus in Acts 9) had the opportunity to stand before the priests and elder of the Sanhedrin. Unlike Jesus, though, Paul couldn't be treated like a second-class citizen because he was born a Roman citizen. The Sanhedrin, the religious ruling council of Jerusalem whose high priest was appointed by Rome (as Ananias was a

Ensign: Children Are An Inheritance
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 1 June 2007 I know I don't like repeating myself, but I thought this Ensign I'd written when I found out Martha was pregnant with Sarah in July 2005 was a great one for today. I changed some of the dates to reflect the pending birth of our second child, Sarah's little brother or sister. WE'RE HAVING A[NOTHER] BABY! Can you tell I'm just a little excited about that? And scared. This may not be true of all expectant parents, but I can vouch Martha and myself are (and will be) feeling the whole range of emotions. Right now, we're looking at a due date of July 2, thirty-one days from now. I don't say "birth date" because our child already exists, so that would have to be the conception date, wouldn't it? Before our Lord an

Ensign: The End Of The Beginning
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 15 June 2007 The Old Testament book of Job is usually known by most people for its beginning and ending. Here's the story: Job is a man blessed with many children, many flocks and herds, and great property. One day in heaven, Satan comes to meet God and God points out how Job with all his blessings still makes the time to honor Him with all he does. God's former chief angel says, "Yeah, right, but he's only as pious as you say because of his blessings. Take them away, and he'll turn his back on you." So one by one, God allows the loss of Job's flocks and children, but he still worships God. Satan comes again and God shows off Job as a example of the best of His children, and Satan counters, "Yeah, right, but once you af

Ensign: Running In Place
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 22 June 2007 "But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased." The last part of Daniel 12:4 in The Message, a late 90s/early 21st century vernacular of the Bible, gets translated as, "There is going to be a lot of running around." And isn't that what we do a lot of -- running from one place of emplyment to the next, micromanaging our lives and families to the point where technology, the improvements in our lives that are supposed to make our lives easier, actually don't. We get to be perfectionists, and not in the sense of "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect" in the Sermon on the Mount (Mat

Ensign: A Very Valuable Possession
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 The newest Alvin will be born Monday morning; please pray for us! -- David AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 29 April 2007 Mark Twain once said, "Temper is a very valuable possession -- don't lose it." Now we don't like to think of ourselves at blowing our stacks over trivial things (to hear the "tolerance" mantra that seems to permeate our culture, you'd think we're not supposed to get angry at anyone for anything), but when we do you don't want to be in a several-mile area. For those who don't lose their temper, let's talk about self-control: for my visual aid, take out a U.S. $1 bill. See the picture of George Washington on the front? That's a reproduction of an original portrait by Gilbert Stuart; it's said that when he was commissioned to do the paintin

Ensign: A Name Is
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 6 July 2007 You'd think this wouldn't qualify -- we're so accustomed to think of long work weeks when we're at our jobs or occupations -- but this week has been one of the longest of my life. Monday morning my wife Martha gave birth to our second child, a baby boy we've named Jeffrey. Check him out: http://www.trinityhealth.org/baby/JeffreyA070207.html On a personal note, I wanted to go with a Scriptural name; left up to me, our son would have been named Philip after both one of Jesus' disciples and the evangelist out of the book of Acts. But since I got to choose our now-older daughter's name of Sarah (after Abraham's wife and Hebrew for "princess"), I didn't quibble too much when Martha picked out Jeffrey for a boy. Of c

Ensign: Life In The Lions' Den
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 12 July 2007 Wow . . . Martha and I are celebrating our fourth wedding anniversary today! -- David "And the king communed with them; and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: therefore stood they before the king." The Bible itself is presented as a story from beginning ("In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.") to end ("The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.") . The book of Daniel in the Old Testament can be seen as a microcosm of that. Although the book begins when the citizens of Judah have arrived in Babylon, the book ends with . . . the end in the form of prophecy. Taking selected incidents in Daniel's life from his and his friends' start in Babylon as

Ensign: The Word For Us Muggles
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 20 July 2007 For those of you who have been on another planet for the last ten years, welcome back to Earth! People all over the world are anticipating the start of tomorrow morning when the final book of the Harry Potter series officially becomes available. Already touted as the greatest literary event in history (12 million copies on first print run in the U.S. alone), this seventh and final book of the series with the ominous title of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is what millions of readers have waited for. For those who don't know or like me don't know much, Harry Potter is a young man who seven years ago (in book time) learned he was a wizard and began attending a school to develop his powers. Along with his friends and teachers at Hogwarts Academy, Harry's gradually grown int

Ensign: Standards
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 27 July 2007 When the children's book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was originally published in the United Kingdom in 1964, the Oompa-Loompas, Willy Wonka's imported assistants at his chocolate factory, were originally described as pygmies from the darkest reaches of unexplored Africa. Concerned this depiction might seem racially insensitive -- whatever that means -- to American audiences, when the book was published in the United States (and in all subsequent editions, even though the 1971 and 2005 movie adaptations skirt this entirely) the Oompa-Loompas' appearance was revised: "His skin was rosy-white, his long hair was golden-brown, and the top of his head came just above the height of Mr. Wonka's knee." I first heard Ch

Ensign: What We Can Learn From Our Kids
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 3 August 2007 Our son Jeffrey turned one month old yesterday, and I'm still floored by that. I'd like to think that my wife Martha and I know some things we need to do raising him (our daughter Sarah turned one month once too) right, but as he gets older we certainly don't expect him to become another Sarah. Heck, we're not even sure what kind of person Sarah's going to become yet! But whatever happens to them or us, we can ultimately rest secure in the knowledge that God is in control even when we don't feel like, ESPECIALLY when we don't feel like, we are! How many of the big "names" in the Bible are ever referred to when they were growing up, when they were children? We don't pick up Abraham's story until he's seventy-fiv

Ensign: Revealed Unto Babes
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 10 August 2007 "Jesus . . . said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes." (Try "children" if babes sounds offensive; you'll still get the meaning.) In Matthew 11:25 and Luke 10:21, we see Jesus admit in prayer that the Word of God is not for everyone, only those who will accept it. Of course, there's nothing wrong with being "wise and prudent" -- that is, as we understand the terms today. But when you limit yourself to what you can perceive with your senses and dismiss everything else, then you miss out on faith. Reason can only go so far, and faith has no limits. In helping others meet God's criteria, Jesus has a knack

Ensign: A Word About The Word
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 17 August 2007 On occassion I come across something in my daily devotional reading that says what I had wanted to say for the week better than I do. Please understand that what you read in Ensign weekly is more often than not a slightly modified first draft (which would be a second draft, wouldn't it?) of mine. I'm no seminarian, theologian, or even a pastor, I'm just someone whom I believe God uses to present the truth from the Bible as applied to my own experience and studies. So I lose nothing in admitting that I don't have all the answers; that's God's purview. But take a look with me at yesterday's devotion from Christ In Our Home: As a journalist, it was always a point not only of pride but also of ethics to record accurate quotes from people I interviewed. But occassionally, a

Ensign: The Hard Way
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 23 August 2007 The church I'm currently a member of, Bethany Lutheran, is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA). Two weeks ago representatives from all the ELCA's member churches met in Chicago and among the issues which came up and were voted on were the issue of homosexual clergy. Usually this gets to be such a headache, but perhaps it needs to be. In essence, the ELCA voted (by no means unanimously at 538-431) to urge bishops to refrain from disciplining pastors in "faithful committed same-gender relationships". My concern: why is this even an issue? This naked attempt to rewrite the requirements for serving as a bishop (a role filled by today's pastor) as listed in 1 Timothy 3:1-7, particularly

Ensign: And On Earth Peace
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 31 August 2007 It's the last day of August ALREADY? Especially when I look at how my kids have grown (at eighteen months and two months, respectively), I constantly get floored by how much time passes. Since we have pictures of when they were newly born, still really chubby, still small -- comparatively speaking, it's amazing how Sarah and Jeffrey have grown in the brief time that my wife Martha and I have been privileged to have them. What I expect we ALL want for our children is to grow up in a better world, a more peaceful world. But are we making the conscious effort to build it with the right foundations? Perhaps the most memorable mention of peace in the Bible is in the traditional Christmas story from the Gospel

Ensign: The Singularity And The Second Coming
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 7 September 2007 The title of today's devotion sounds more like a bad science fiction novel, but hear me out . . . I so enjoyed this article I found on Rapture Ready's website that I couldn't help sharing it. Sometimes I read pieces which speak on things better than I think I would: this one with the same title as today's message struck me because I often hear people who say science and Scripture contradict each other. I disagree; they're leading us to the same conclusions. I've excerpted parts of the article by Britt Gillette, whose on his own website examines the interconnections between Bible prophecy and emerging technology, here . . . for the full thing, go to http://www.raptureready.com/soap/ss.html "The singularity is

Ensign: Methuselah's Warning
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 14 September 2007 In our society, saying that something or someone is "as old as Methuselah" says it or they have been around a very long time. Certainly there's precedent for that; Methuselah is recorded in Genesis 5:26 as having lived 969 years; then he died. But other than his listing as the son of Enoch, the father of Lamech, and the grandfather of Noah, Methuselah's not mentioned at all. Other than his longevity, what makes his name stick out when others mentioned in the geneaologies raise question marks in our minds? Even though Noah's building of the ark gets more press as a warning (a 120 year long warning!), Methuselah actually died the year of the flood. In our minds, it may seem strange that God would wipe out the

Ensign: The Battle Is The Lord's
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 21 September 2007 "And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and pitched by the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines." I'd figure that even non-Bible readers know what I mean when I refer to David and Goliath; in our culture, that term's come to mean any struggle which seems to be against impossible odds. Note I say SEEMS to be; while the Goliaths of our world today often seem to be the winners, the Bible story which inspired the term has a decidedly different outcome. And that came from the last place anyone expected, which usually means that God was involved! The story's in 1 Samuel 17, and verse two which I opened with today shows common battle practice in Bible times; rather than armies clashing and soldiers slaying friend and foe in co

Ensign: A Not So Trivial Pursuit
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 28 September 2007 Last week I took an online survey about my satisfaction with my current vehicle. It was reasonable as survey goes and then dovetailed into this question: "Name the seven ingredients of a Big Mac." Anybody who saw the commerical in the 1980s probably remembers the McDonald's jingle "twoallbeefpatties, specialsauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, onasesameseedbun" as a list of the ingredients even if you don't know the words. It's a little scary I STILL know that as well as the six kids from the 1970s television show "The Brady Bunch" (pop culture thing; Greg, Peter, Bobby, Marcia, Jan, and Cindy), though that wasn't quite a knee-jerk reaction for me. Then came the third "pop culture" question: Name the Ten Co

Ensign: To Keep It Holy
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 5 October 2007 Two responses I got to last week's Ensign referred to messages they'd heard regarding the sabbath day. Besides being enshrined in the fourth of the Ten Commandments (specifically Exodus 20:8), whenever it's referred to in Scripture it's regarded as a day set apart. We usually ascribe the sabbath day as the seventh day because that's when God rested after His creation of the world, but the term itself doesn't even appear until Exodus when the Israelites are gathering manna in the wilderness in Exodus 16. The first reference to the seventh day being the sabbath occurs in Exodus 16:26 -- "Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none" -- but we're starting countin

Ensign: Meant To Be
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 12 October 2007 "When Jesus had lift up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more." (John 8:10-11) At the beginning of the eighth chapter of John, we find Jesus teaching again in the temple. According to verse 3, the scribes and Pharisees burst in with a woman they've caught committing adultery -- "in the very act" according to verse 4. Now, setting aside what efforts the scribes and Pharisees must have gone to so they could catch her in the act, they don't bring her to Jesus to seek His decision regarding her punishment -- they seek Him to confirm th

Ensign: Online Friends, Romans, Countrymen, Lend Me Your Ears
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 19 October 2007 For those of us who haven't lived under rocks for the last decade and a half or so, it's well nigh impossible to have escaped either hearing of or using the Internet. (Which Al Gore did not invent, by the way . . . the idea of an interlinked yet decentralized network dates to a United States Department of Defense plan of the late 1950s.) The last decade in particular have seen a rise of social networking that's just incredible. Besides being able to exchange ideas and information all over the world practically instantaneously -- at least, as fast as we can type and hit "Send" -- we meet and greet people from all walks of life through comments, emails, chat rooms, etc. from all walks of life who we probably will ne

Ensign: Take This No-fail Quiz
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 26 October 2007 "You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed." (Genesis 32:22-31) We would have so loved taking a surprise quiz like this in school, methinks! I just wonder about the people who don't pass it. I read this in a devotion I was reading last week, and I thought it would be wonderful to share! (In case you're looking, it's from "Christ In Our Home" for October 17 . . . I can't take the credit!) Here are four questions. You'll score 25 points for each "yes" answer. 1. Have you ever struggled with something in your life? Maybe there was stress at work, strife at home, or illness. Maybe you argued with a family member or had a harsh e

Ensign: Heed The Saving Beasts
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 2 November 2007 Yesterday morning I got a phone call from my church's Sunday School superintendent and was asked to teach this Sunday for one teacher who can't be there. Of course I said yes; our lesson we have this rotation (a five or six week series where the lesson is presented to each grade in a diferent learning style each Sunday), our Christmas lesson, could be considered anthropomorphic. "Anthropomorphic" is a ten-dollar word for ascribing humanlike or at least human-relatable behaviors to animals; the emphasis of this lesson is on the reactions of the beasts in the stable to Jesus' birth in a manger. Probably not as elaborate as the traditional Nativity scenes we see every Christmas; the story in Luke 2:1-20 doesn't refer

Ensign: Why We Pray
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 9 November 2007 After our youth group met and played sardines (a reverse hide-and-seek where you find the person hiding and hide with them until everyone's scrunched like . . . sardines) in the church basement Wednesday night, we went around the group in a closing prayer. Most of the younger and older people there aren't great speakers --including yours truly. When it came to mentioning one thing they were thankful to God for, most were heartfelt and thoughtful, even though I'll admit some were surprising and silly to my ears. But nothing's too trivial or silly to God; He didn't send His Son Jesus to die for our sins by any degree of severity (it's not more important that He died and rose again so you could ask forgiveness for mu

Ensign: A Volunteer From The Audience, Please!
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 16 November 2007 "But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart." In 1 Samuel 16, we see God rejecting King Saul, the one He had originally chosen in response to the Israelites' plea three years before that's recorded in chapter 8, verse 5 ("make us a king to judge us like all the nations"). God's accession to their demand was no weakness on His part, but sometimes He gives His people what they ask for, even if it's not what they need. To turn back to God, a process that can take generations, God allows the Assyrians or the Babylonians or the R

Ensign: Word Hunger
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 23 November 2007 I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving yesterday! If it's like most such fourth Thursdays of November that we've celebrated, we ate more than we probably should have and those of us who didn't have to work enjoyed the company of our family and friends. One certainly gets one's physical hunger satisfied for a while and either works or sleeps it off afterwards; even my son Jeffrey, who's still on formula at just over four and a half months (so he couldn't eat turkey or any of the other stuff), got to have a great time on his first Thanksgiving. For the last few weeks my church bulletin has misprinted its Cause of the Month -- basically a designated opportunity to offer above and beyond our regular offering for

Ensign: The Christ Before Christmas
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 30 November 2007 I think more people will admit that just leading up to the celebration of Christmas, the decorating, the gift-buying, the gift-wrapping (confession: I'm really not a fan of this part), and the seemingly endless whirl of parties and admonitions to be of good cheer come in an overwhelming barrage. I feel for whoever's working retail between Christmas and New Year's; their workplace is probably running Christmas carols all the time! (It was when I worked retail, anyway.) Before you go off calling me Ebenezer Scrooge, please hear me out. This year I recall the Christmas items coming into stores right after Halloween, and hopefully I'm not the only person who's noticed that the timing for that has been pushed further

Ensign: Advent
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 7 December 2007 I hadn't heard of Advent which encompasses the month of December in Christianity commemorating the birth of Jesus in the world until a few years ago -- that's part of growing up in a church tradition where holiday celebrations were kept to a bare minimum. Oh, we honored Christmas and Easter but we really didn't celebrate or prepare in our church beyond a slightly more festive atmosphere. The older I get (I'm turning thirty-six on Tuesday) the more I'm realizing that when you make ANY goal to have to take small steps toward achieving that goal. The conquest of the Promised Land after Moses' death didn't happen overnight; once the Israelites left Egypt under Moses' direction (who operated under God's direction), the

Ensign: Keeping Watch
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 14 December 2007 "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night." (Luke 2:8) In Biblical times, shepherds were a vital link between the city and the country. When there were fewer and fewer people to tend to the tasks of raising food and animals for food and other necessities of life, it was easy to keep the shepherds on the edge of society. The shepherds in the Christmas story had no different tasks that David did as a boy or Jacob when he was sent to his uncle Laban. In a way, they were closer to nature and to nature's God (phrasing from the Declaration of Independence) that we often are today. When something unusual and once-in-a-lifetime occurred, you can bet that th

Ensign: Our 2007 Christmas Letter
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 21 December 2007 We’re really on the last few weeks of 2007? Where does the time go . . . I suspect it’s gone to our kids (you read that right) as an investment. Martha gave birth to our second child and first son at 11:30 in the morning on July 2. Jeffrey Robert Alvin is already getting pretty big . . . by December 10, he’s 26 ½ inches long and weighs twenty-one pounds. Not bad for a five-month-old, I’m told; at birth he measured twenty inches long and weighed 7 pounds and 14 ounces! And like his big sister Sarah, he’s just more curious all the time. Regarding our firstborn, Sarah is getting to be such a big help around our house! At twenty-one months as we’re writing this, she’s someone hard to keep tied down. She runs when she can w

Ensign: Three French Hens
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 28 December 2007 Like most of us with a good singing voice (ok, in my case like those who PRETEND to have a good singing voice; we're the people who say making a joyful noise unto the Lord doesn't mean being on-key), Christmas is especially fun because of the variety of Christmas carols we get to sing and hear! My personal favorite is "The Twelve Days of Christmas" that builds up this increasing list of gifts. Today would be the third day of (re: "after") Christmas. The story goes that when "The Twelve Days of Christmas" was first sung in sixteenth century England, the partridge in a pear tree, the two turtledoves, etc. represented elements of Christianity -- the Son of God and the Old and New Testaments, respectively. Lately that

Ensign: Ten Lords-a-leaping
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 4 January 2008 The story goes that when "The Twelve Days of Christmas" was first sung in sixteenth century England, the partridge in a pear tree, the two turtledoves, etc. represented elements of Christianity -- the Son of God and the Old and New Testaments, respectively. Lately that's been discounted as an urban legend (a remarkably old urban legend, but there were cities then too), but the argument seems spurious at best, one that rests of absence of evidence rather than evidence of absence. "On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: ten lords a-leaping, nine ladies dancing, eight maids a-milking, seven swans a-swimming, six geese a-laying, FIVE GOLDEN RINGS, four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle dove

Ensign: Why I Don't Do Birthdays
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 11 January 2008 Okay, it's not QUITE as bad as it sounds; I don't think I'll ever be at the age where I lament surviving one more complete orbit of our planet around the sun. But there are many people who joke they're x age "and holding" because our culture seems to place such a premium on physical youth and strength and it's in one's vested interest to remain as young and strong as you can for as long as you can. That's not bad in and of itself, but it can get excessive when we spend more time and resources to appear as we want to be rather than who we are. Eagle-eyed readers of Ensign may have noticed that I'm no longer mentioning individual birthdays in the "P.S." section. I've gotten to know so many people over the las

Ensign: Birth
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 18 January 2008 From what I've seen of our own children being born, it's pretty painful. Think about it from the baby's point of view; he or she is coming out of a place where he or she had everything they needed, someplace safe into a world that at first is too bright [I'm thinking of the scene from "Look Who's Talking" where the baby's voice says "Put me back! PUT ME BACK IN!"] and requires the baby to act on his or her own just to breathe! It's too cold; the baby gets wrapped in a blanket and learns really quickly that covering oneself to keep warm is a good idea! Babies don't know how to crawl or walk or speak or act; they have to be taught. Would it be going too far out on a limb to say that's what freaks most people out w

Ensign: Growth
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 25 January 2008 "And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and found favor with God and man." (Luke 2:52) The information the New Testament gives about Jesus' life from shortly after His birth to the beginning of His public ministry is scant with one major exception. When He was twelve, Jesus traveled with His parents Joseph and Mary to Jerusalem for the passover feast from their hometown of Nazareth and in the hustle and bustle of the city Jesus got away from His parents. When they found Him, He was in the temple and the teachers of the Mosaic Law there were astonished at what He said and asked. Joseph and Mary, like any parents, cared more that their Son -- actually, God's Son -- was safe. What He says to them may have seemed to

Ensign: Faith
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 1 February 2008 I didn't like the way this week's planned Ensign was going (sometimes that happens) so I was looking for a different way to say . . . well, what I wanted to say as I believe God's directing me. I found it in something else I'd written four years ago, and I'm still floored by it. Our circumstances change, but truth is always going to remain truth. Please join me, won't you? I was out of town this past weekend [this was four years ago, remember] at what's called "the Midwinter Lutheran Gathering", a retreat where I learned a lot about the letter of Ephesians as well as met some new people. Considering the apostle Paul is not on my top ten list of favorite people in the Bible (I think he comes across as arrogant an

Ensign: Depth
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 8 February 2008 Throughout the Christian church two days ago, the season of Lent began. It culminates in Easter Sunday which this year falls on March 23, the second earliest date that Easter itself can possibly fall on. (At the opposite end, the latest an Easter Sunday can take place is April 25.) There's a not-so-weird formula for calculating this, pretty much since the fourth century A.D., it's been the Sunday after the first full moon on or after the day of the vernal equinox. And even THAT'S complicated, since the vernal equinox for this part of the year -- when day and night are equal -- is always March 21. If that explanation doesn't confuse you, hey, you're smarter than I am and that actually doesn't take much! I hi

Ensign: Breadth
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 15 February 2008 Before we headed out of our house for church this past Sunday, our daughter Sarah saw my Bible on the couch next to me. She knows what it is ("Bible") and also knows we go to "church" but hasn't quite made the connection between the two yet. (She'll be two in thirteen days, so I'm not expecting major leaps.) I asked Sarah where we go with the Bible and, without missing a beat, she went to the bookshelf I keep it on and was trying to put it away. "Up! Up!" If she could have gotten a chair, she'd have probably done it! I've been thinking about that all week ... how many of us actually associate the Bible with something we should bring to church and not as something just collecting dust around our house? I was he

Ensign: Nth
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 22 February 2008 Wednesday night at church I got to play Judas in our weekly Lenten drama. This is the first of are a series of short skits with one person portraying God and the other portraying a major character is Jesus' earthly life whose action led the the death of the cross Jesus would face. I'm also teaching a Sunday School class this six weeks on the same thing, and I was concerned about the material being taught without it losing its significance. Christianity rises or falls on the resurrection of Jesus, not His crucifixion, but it's hard to evoke and stay in the despair leading up to the former. With two thousand years of hindsight, we know what happens next! I didn't see Judas as a cold-hearted, money-hungry false fri

Ensign: Breath, Or Total Vocabulary Failure
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 29 February 2008 Mark Twain once said that it's better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt. If you ever feel at a loss for words, you're not alone. Those moments when my brain freezes, when I know what I want to say minutes, hours, or days after I should have said it, seem to be going up. In the Bible there are many people who found themselves at a loss for words (Moses by the burning bush in Exodus 4 and Isaiah before the LORD in Isaiah 6, to name two which come to mind), but they and others learned that it's not a matter of skill but a matter of will that makes us His faithful followers. The same's true for each of us. Witnessing may not be the most difficult call on the life of a follower

Ensign: Width
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 7 March 2008 He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell. Would Pontius Pilate, the Roman-appointed governor of Judea, be remembered at all except as a historical footnote if he did not preside over Jesus' death on the cross and His burial? I expect not, and he gets billing here because, just as Jesus was born like every other man and woman who's ever walked the earth, so he also died. Granted, most of us don't go through the agony of crucifixion, but we need the reminder that Jesus did die. Wednesday night I acted in one of our church's Lenten dramas as Pilate; if the Gospels were written for the first time today, he'd probably be a middle-level manager in charge of one of the most t

Ensign: Length
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 14 March 2008 The key turned on his locked door in the Jerusalem prison, and Barabbas had been told he was free to go. The semi-official custom of the Roman governor to free one prisoner condemned to die at the passover feast had been fulfilled, and his name came up. It was a much less tougher choice than I think anyone expected. The little we learn of Barabbas, the "notable prisoner" (likely repeat offender, Matthew 27:16) convicted thief (John 18:40), murderer, and revolutionary (Mark 15:7) who was released while Jesus was condemned to death by crucifixion, in Scripture -- he is mentioned briefly in all four Gospels, but only in regard to Jesus dying in his place -- hasn't kept generations of playwrights, theologians, and authors f

Ensign: Good Friday
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 21 March 2008 A blessed Easter to all of you! I was talking with a pastor friend who frequently reads my Ensigns and mentioned to him that I'll be writing today on Good Friday -- the day commemorating Jesus' crucifixion -- and it's hard to come up with a way to relate the truth of Jesus' death saving all of us without it sounding like something they 've heard again and again and again. He said he knew just what I meant. My gut reaction to even the phrase "Good Friday" is what's so good about it? From a Christian standpoint, it's not good because we get depressed by descending into the deepest depths because we know Jesus, the Son of God without sin, didn't have to die. Part of Jesus didn't want to; indeed, didn't He pray to God i

Ensign: Fault Lines
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 28 March 2008 "Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?" In the sixth chapter of Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, he's asking the people why they're allowing those outside the church to judge them. Certainly this is no argument against an independent judiciary today (or even in the 1st century, when that was unthinkable), but when we're peacefully assembling in our local church, we need to ask ourselves what we bear against others in church that we wouldn't think twice about in public? In all of the nineteen times "fault" is used in Scripture, it's used grammatically as a noun, never as a

Ensign: Signs
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 4 April 2008 "Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee." The opening verse of Matthew 12:38-45 seems like the religious leaders who are constantly carping at Jesus are coming around -- look, they're calling Him "Master", the closest they'll ever get to calling Jesus Lord -- and willing to be convinced. But check out the passages surrounding this; previously, Jesus referred to a good or corrupt tree being known by the fruit it bears and all but picked a fight with the Pharisees by referring to "a generation of vipers" (34) who had spoken evil -- that is, what's more important to them became enforcing the Law rather than serving the purpose of the Law, justice -- out of the

Ensign: Unto Caesar, Unto God
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 11 April 2008 "Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Cesar, or not?" ("Cesar" would be the Greek translated to English rendering in the King James of "Caesar", the title for a Roman emperor.) Even non-Bible readers are likely familiar with the idiom about rendering or giving unto Caesar what is Caesar's -- that is, give to the governing authority what they lawfully ask for ("tribute") to keep society running. Nowhere are we called in Scripture to be tax protesters. In fact, here in the United States our tax returns are due in the mail on Tuesday, in four days! [Whew, we did it!] This incident appears three times in the Gospels themselves (Matthew 22, Mark 12, and Luke 20), and look who's asking

Ensign: Arrow Points
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 18 April 2008 At four-thirty yesterday morning as our nine-month-old Jeffrey was talking in his crib indicating he was awake, I was not thinking of my son (or my two-year-old daughter Sarah who woke up at six) as a heritage from the Lord. (Psalm 127:3) Before sunrise, I would settle for interrupted sleep through the night. And my wife and I actually get that most of the time, so I'm probably complaining too much. Looking at the one hundred twenty-seventh psalm as a whole, we can see like nearly all the practical advice for living that the Bible gives, it's common sense. Let me jump ahead for a minute to verse two: "It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep

Ensign: For The Passover
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 25 April 2008 "And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt." God's admonition to His people (12:12) just before the death of the firstborn struck Egypt, leading to the end of their slavery, was an instruction for all time. In the twelfth chapter of Exodus, they were also instructed by God also instructed "the congregation of Israel" to prepare a special meal of roast lamb and bread without yeast ("unleavened bread"). The feast came to be called the Passover (because the tenth plague "passed over" them) and it's still celebrated today by orthodox Jews -- this year on the nig

Ensign: The Peace Of Jerusalem
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 2 May 2008 My son Jeffrey will be ten months old tomorrow! As I already see him and his big sister Sarah go everywhere and do everything they can with that joy of living that comes from not knowing there are some things you can't do, I pray that they (as I don't doubt you do for your children) that they will never have to go to war on engender the feelings that lead to it (i.e. let them stew). Okay, maybe not in those words, but we do ask for peace to prevail in what we do. I remember a Calvin and Hobbes comic strip where the title characters are about to play "war" and one asks, "Why do we play at war and not peace?" The other character answers, "Too few role models." At the end of these devotional messages, I ask you

Ensign: Revealed Unto Babes
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 9 May 2008 "Jesus . . . said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes." (Try "children" if babes sounds offensive; you'll still get the meaning.) In Matthew 11:25 and Luke 10:21, we see Jesus admit in prayer that the Word of God is not for everyone, only those who will accept it. Of course, there's nothing wrong with being "wise and prudent" -- that is, as we understand the terms today. But when you limit yourself to what you can perceive with your senses and dismiss everything else, then you miss out on faith. Reason can only go so far, and faith has no limits. In helping others meet God's criteria, Jesus has a kna

Ensign: Back To The Beginning
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 16 May 2008 "And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed." Jacob's wrestling match with the angel recorded in Genesis 32 ended with a change of name and outlook. By and large, Israel is used in the Bible first as a proper name and then as a geographic designation. Throughout recorded history, even when they hasn't been an assembled tribe or kingdom or nation of Israel (commentators disagree on whether the word means "prince of God", to go with the translation I'm using, or "God rules/judges"), it has always been a distinct entity whom God regards and blesses, even and often in the face of the world's opinion. Flash forward nearl

Ensign: Twenty-nine And Advancing
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 23 May 2008 I'm remembering the speech Geroge C. Scott gives at the beginning of the movie "Patton", a toned-down version of the general's address to his troops before the World War II invasion of Sicily. At one point Patton says that he doesn't want to hear anything about his troops "holding their position" -- that is, staying right where they are and not advancing to engage the enemy. In order to fight and win, Patton drills into his troops that they have to constantly be attacking and let the enemy do the defending! There's nothing wrong with rest, but we can never use it as an excuse to not act. In the twenty-nine years just celebrated that two women at my church, Marie and Nadine, have sang in and led our children's

Ensign: To Make Much Of Precious Moments
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 30 May 2008 Sam Butcher, the illustrator who created the Precious Moments figurines -- most often with a Christian theme since he IS one -- has also worked since 1985 on the Precious Moments Chapel in Carthage, Missouri. I was recently paging through a keepsake book from there containing reproduction of most of the ongoing artwork that employs the same facial style and body type (short and childlike) to portray Biblical characters in various acts of service and Godly devotion. Most of them will be known to anyone with a basic knowledge of the Bible. When I read about the area of the Chapel known as the Three Tributes for its portrayal of artists from the Bible, I knew who David who composed most of the Psalms and Paul who

Ensign: With Our Given Gifts
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 6 June 2008 Very few things -- I'd say with reluctance NOTHING -- in history is required to happen the way we expect it to. In the sixty-four years since the beginning of the Second World War's Operation Overlord on this day (the "D-Day" landing to free western Europe from Nazi occupation), study after study has been done by the militaries of the then-warring countries of what could have happened differently. If one small thing was changed -- say, the deception of a "planned" invasion at Calais had been seen through, or military leaders had been in different places than they really were, it's been determined D-Day and our history could have gone very differently. "For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the

Ensign: Living In The Present
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 13 June 2008 Yesterday morning before work I got some quality time with our kids, two-year-old Sarah and eleven-month-old Jeffrey. It's fun to take them out with me when I'm running errands, and after breakfast (Sarah can already say "Burger King" and is working on saying our grace prayer before meals) we stopped in a used bookstore I frequent. One of the people there was an elderly gentleman who commented that he loves to see little children because they know how to live in the present. A child can be crying and five minutes not remember why he or she was crying; they're just ready to take off again! I've got to say my kids constantly prove that, and when he said that it made me think of Jesus inviting children to come to

Ensign: Pray Without Ceasing
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 19 June 2008 The story goes that when Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer painted what's come to be known as the "Praying Hands", the model was his brother. Of the two Dürer children, the family could only afford to send one of them off for higher education. The brothers agreed among themselves that Albrecht would go and years later, with his brother's hands marred and calloused by practicing their family trade of goldsmithing, he used them as a model for the work he's probably best known or at least most recognized for, even if you know nothing about the man. Am I the only person who forgets who to pray for? I doubt it's onsetting senility on my part, but all of us can get so busy that it takes something dramatic in our

Ensign: All The Difference
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an esnign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 27 June 2008 "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." Jesus' answer to Thomas' question at Passover on how to know the way to follow Jesus where He's going (to meet God His Father in heaven) is an indirect one. Indirect because it's really simple. Instead of answering HOW -- in my best Websterian, that's to ascertain a method of procedure -- Jesus directly told Thomas and the other disciples in earshot not only what HE wanted to know, but also who Jesus Himself really is. I AM, just as God identified Himself to Moses long ago on Mount Sinai (Exodus 3:14). Just as Jesus would identify Himself later to the Sanhedrin (Luke 22) and to Pontius Pilate (John 18) and how He identifies Himself to everybody, even those who

Ensign: What If God Was One Of Us?
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an esnign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 3 July 2008 Last weekend I had the opportunity to re-read "Flatland", a late 19th century novel where all the characters are to our eyes two-dimensional figures like squares, circles, and triangles. The main character, A. Square, was elevated by Lord Sphere, a visitor from the third dimension of Spaceland, to see his own land from the Sphere's perspective. When returned home and given the commission to preach the "Gospel of the Three Dimensions", A. Square is promptly locked away and repeatedly frustrated because he can't prove to his fellows of two dimensions the third dimension of height. Relating the unrelatable or relating TO the unrelatable is a more subtle problem to many of us than we realize. Try teach

Ensign: Real People
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 11 July 2008 "And [Jesus] called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand: not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man." Matthew 15:10 marks the midpoint between Jesus trouncing the scribes and Pharisees yet again and teaching an important point. Benjamin Franklin's maxim that three can keep a secret if two of them are dead touches on it too. Our thoughts and our knowledge and our talents can do no good or bad if we don't share. And we take the risk of being misunderstood or outright wrong when we do take action -- but we can make the effort anyway. What we remember and often do best is often what we repeat ourselves, whether it

Ensign: When There Is No Peace
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 18 July 2008 "They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace." Step back for a minute from Jeremiah 6:14; the whole chapter deals with the fall of Judah, the surviving kingdom of Israel and Judah as the time this is written. You don't need to know that to know that so many letters get signed these days with the ending "peace" or you see protests against the actions others countries take that demand peace. My question: do people in those throngs REALLY know what they're asking for? I expect you and I would agree that peace is the opposite of war. True; but it's got to be more than that -- I suggest that in order to fill an empty glass, you don't pour

Ensign: The Limits Of Forgiveness
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 25 July 2008 I'd originally written this Ensign two years ago (in fact, the date on it IS July 21, 2006 -- two years and four days ago), and while I can NEVER exhaust the Word of God for devotional material, certain issues just keep coming up. Issues that, if we're not willing to overcome them, will never let us move forward in our lives and be the people God has called us to be. One issue, one that creeps up more and more in our world today, is our unwillingness to forget the past; whether in our families or between our houses (read:nations and neighbors), we can be unwilling to look at people where they are NOW and remember some past offense. I'm guilty of this too, and I need to learn no limits all the time. "Then came Pet

Ensign: Two Steps Forward
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 1 August 2008 "By this shall all men know ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." John 13:35, from Jesus' new commandment that He gives to the twelve at Passover, often gets scrunched in other Bible translations as something like, "By this shall all know you are my disciples, if you love one another." I'm not saying that's bad, but this is one of those cases I find the King James Version adding meaning that, in our eagerness to reach out to the unchurched and those outside of Christ, we gloss over. How can we love someone else (outside our circle) if we don't love the people we are among right now? We can't love the people we're among right now if we do not have love ourselves or love for ourselve

Ensign: Past The Olympic Truce
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 8 August 2008 I did catch most of the opening ceremonies of 2004's Summer Olympics in Athens when my wife and I were living in a second-story apartment before kids. This year's opening ceremonies tonight (I guess with crossing the International Date Line to get to China it's yesterday's) in Beijing will probably fly past my radar. We now live in a house and have two kids -- I say 2.4, the American average, sometimes with our extended houseguest, but I'm just being flippant. The organizers of our modern Olympics, dating from the year 1896 to the present, will call on the nations of the world -- at least those participating in and watching the games, which should be most everybody -- to observe a two-week ceasefire.

Ensign: Change We Can Believe In
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 15 August 2008 Tuesday afternoon was my day off from work, and I get to spend those times with my kids. We all get a little stir crazy around our house (okay, I REALLY do), so we'll either play in the park -- there's a school playground in front of my house, or there's an open-air park a half-mile from where we live. If the weather's not so favorable, we'll take the stroller through our local mall. Because we had the time and I had the car keys, we got to do both! When we were strolling through "Gideon's Trumpet", a Christian bookstore in the mall, we came to a Catholic display with several pewter representations of Jesus dying on the cross. Sarah pointed to one and called out "Jesus" -- I don't think she's ever seen Him represented that way, she usually refers to a plastic figur

Ensign: Why God Shouldn't Have Called Me Either
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 22 August 2008 I was getting ready to type this week's Ensign this morning when I visited a friend's page online. I'd read a version of this a few years ago along the same lines (this Bible character was some negative characteristic), and I've noticed myself sometimes that we make living the life transformed by God through His Son Jesus Christ harder than it really is. Being a witness doesn't make us perfect, and the more you read through the Bible the more you realize it's not a prerequisite to serve God either. So we're all in pretty good company, and I want to thank my friend (that's a screen name because I do want to keep this person's confidence) for some perspective. We all need it. There are many reasons why God shouldn't have called you. But don't worry.... You'

Ensign: Wag The Dog
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 29 August 2008 I love Jesus, but sometimes I don’t like Him. Yes, like all sinners – that’s you, me, everybody – who have fallen short of God’s grace (Romans 3:23), it’s hard to resist the temptation to pick and choose what parts of the Bible to accept and what to reject because we do this in nearly every other area of life, don’t we? But Paul’s admonition to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 that “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works” leaves no wiggle room. So there must be something in the Bible, if we’re left scratching our heads at how someone acts, that we’re not picking up on. One

Ensign: Data, There Are Times When I Envy You
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 5 September 2008 In the last great Star Trek movie (in my humble opinion, the eighth film, 1996's "Star Trek: First Contact"), one of the main characters is an android known as Data. Over the years in the television series before the movie, Data was unable to make the leap -- being an artificial lifeform crafted in human image -- to become what he believed was fully human because he couldn't experience emotions. When he finally got an emotion chip from his creator, it fused to his neural net and though he couldn't remove it, he could turn it off. Hence Captain Picard's line which is today's title. Data, there are times I envy you too. I expect we all do, when we want to undo something we've done or something we've said because we realize in hindsight how foolish we were to attemp

Ensign: Glad You Met Me
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 12 September 2008 Wednesday morning my family and I attended my wife's uncle's funeral in Bismarck. When the sermon was being given the pastor focused on one of Stanley's favorite expressions after he met someone, whether for the first or the hundredth time: today's title. I know to my ears and even on first sight it seems rather self-centered, in our minds, we hear a person saying "glad you met me" as "Aren't you glad you met me!" But Stanley used it in a different way, and that's something we can all learn from. "And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man." The final verse of Luke 2 (the same chapter the story of Jesus born in the stable is found) catches Jesus after He's twelve years old when Joseph and Mary found Him in the temple after three day

Ensign: Pure And Simple
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 26 September 2008 We didn't have to go to Spokane on our way home from our vacation in Seattle (where I was last week with my wife and her parents), but on our way past there on the interstate I noticed Bethany Presbyterian Church with the sign caption NOT HAVING NATIONAL HEALTH CARE IS A SIN. Regardless of my personal views regarding that sentiment, I found myself adding a question mark at the end of this. Just what is pure sin? "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" Romans 3:23 is usually the Christian fallback position when the issue of sin comes up. We can rattle off examples of sin -- murder, adultery, disobeying your parents, lying (what bearing false witness is) -- but we're usually hard-pressed to back up just what si

Ensign: Election Day
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 3 October 2008 I do pay attention to the Presidential elections in the United States, a vested interest since I do live in this country. One detail of our quadrennial (that's a fancy word for "occurs every four years") contest for the supreme political office in the land that often throws even those of those of us who vote is the Electoral College. It's created in the U.S. Constitution -- specifically in Article II, Section 1, paragraphs 2-4 -- and, with as many electors as there are senators and representatives (since 1960, the count's been 538), a presidential candidate and running mate want to have 270 votes in the Electoral College, one more than half of 538, to win the election. So when we mark that ballot in thirty-two days, we n

Ensign: Come Forth!
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 10 October 2008 Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead was not your typical miracle. I know what you're thinking; just what is a typical miracle? Feeding the multitudes, cleansing the lepers, restoring the sight of the blind are also miraculous -- spontaneous cures don't happen every day, and especially around Jesus they flocked and people in their heart of hearts knew this. But the miracle recorded in John 11 was one we can analyze because we who've read the rest of the book know that in the weeks ahead Jesus is going to have the same miracle performed on Himself. Like this one, there is nobody in the story close to either Jesus or Lazarus whom it doesn't affect. The story begins in Bethany, where Mary and her sister Martha li

Ensign: Are You There, God? It's Me, David.
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 17 October 2008 I had considered writing Ensign last Friday on my sister-in-law Margaret's birthday with the title of the Judy Blume novel I'm paraphrasing today. But as I planned it, it was hard to come up with a format that wouldn't come across as critical. Since the people who benefit -- at least, it's been my experience -- from criticism and most often we ourselves who give it, I put that off until today's message. I was surprised that I had forgotten that birthdays are mentioned three times in Scripture. Pharaoh's birthday is mentioned in Genesis 40:20 as the day he treated his servants to a feast and released his ex-chief butler and ex-chief baker from prison. Of course, Joseph predicted that the butler would be restor

Ensign: Uncommon Faith
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 24 October 2008 [I wrote this Ensign four years ago, you'll be able to tell, but its message is still important, perhaps especially important, today. I don't feel the same way about Paul. -- David] I was out of town this past weekend at what's called "the Midwinter Lutheran Gathering", a retreat where I learned a lot about the letter of Ephesians as well as met some new people. Considering the apostle Paul is not on my top ten list of favorite people in the Bible (I think he comes across as arrogant and puffed-up by saying he's not), I caught myself about midway through the first session. Actually, God caught me with the realization that the Bible is not meant to be an ego-booster. The Word of God is meant to bring us

Ensign: Who Can Be Against Us?
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 31 October 2008 "If Christ be for us, who can be against us?" Paul's rhetorical question in Romans 8:31 is just as easily ours, whether we're talking about a presidential election which will surely affect our future or a personal choice which will surely affect our future. If "choice" is an uncomfortable world because it seems to have been hijacked by the ongoing war of cultures (e.g., "pro-choice"), it's supposed to be. Decisions are made from weighing available alternatives and going with what has the most going for it (or the least against it), and with choices you do the same and then go with what you want anyway. Since we are unlikely to stop ourselves in the future if we proceed now, it's best to make use of every moment of time because it's our to use, a gift of God. We de

Ensign: Time For A Refresher Course
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 14 November 2008 "And Moses brought not just rules, but a promise. 'God will lead us to the promised land,' he said. 'There we will find milk and honey. There we will make our homes.' In time, this promise was kept. The people of Israel reached the beautiful land of Canaan. They brough the commandments with them, in a carved golden box, to their new home. In this hopeful place, they would try to live by God's rules forever." Last Thursday before I left for work my daughter Sarah picked out a Bible story for me to read her about Moses receiving the Ten Commandments from God as told in Exodus. As a family time Bible story, of course it's just the basics. The above passage especially caught my attention -- in our culture which seems to thrive on breaking or skirting the very ed

Ensign: Honor By The Numbers
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 21 November 2008 God promised Moses he would see the Promised Land he was leading the Israelites from Egypt into. He would see it, but he would die without entering the land just as his older brother Aaron and his sister Miriam already had. To paraphrase U.S. president John F. Kennedy, the torch of God's charge would be passed on to a new generation of Israelites, led by a man God would tell Moses to appoint, one already known to Moses for his bravery and faith -- Joshua (originally known as Oshea in Numbers 13:16) the son of Nun. Saturday morning in the men's Bible study at my church we studied the passage in Numbers, the fourth book of the Old Testament, where the LORD identifies Joshua as "a man in whom is the spirit" (27:18; that is, a man with great faith). Joshua was one of th

Ensign: See The Father With Thanksgiving
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 26 November 2008 "Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us." Jesus' Passover with His disciples was hardly the secret meeting that popular culture has made it out to be. Nor was it the elegant banquet that Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper portrays. It was the beginning or, as Winston Churchill said of World War II's Battle of El Alamein, "the end of the beginning". It was Jesus' revelation of Himself as the Son of God and the Son of Man. But when Philip asks (what I'm sure all the disciples were thinking) Jesus to show them God in John 14:8 quoted above, He's hurt -- but not surprised -- that he can ask that. "Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet thou hast

Ensign: Where Sharing Is It's Own Reward
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 5 December 2008 A local radio station in my hometown is using this slogan to promote its annual "Horn of Plenty" program that raises groceries to assemble food baskets for families at Christmas who apply (check that, you can't apply yourself but you can submit someone's name to receive such a basket) along with a devotional to introduce the Word of God to them. Not a Bible, specifically, but something to help you "understand" it ... never mind that, my minor quibble is with the slogan itself. It's a minor quibble because, if you remember your English classes, the phrase should NOT have a contraction in it. Expand the contraction (stay with me, this is not cosmology) and this slogan reads "where sharing is it is own reward

Ensign: To David On His 37th Birthday
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 12 December 2008 Wednesday night (the day before my birthday, actually) while my wife had to be at work, I went after leaving my workplace to attend the Singing Christmas Tree, a local church production that combines their choir which lines up in nine rows along the levels of a giant wooden platform festooned with Christmas lights with a dramatic presentation. That is always some contemporary scene that ultimately ends with the retelling of the first Christmas story with the baby Jesus in the manger at Bethlehem attended by Joseph, Mary, the shepherds, and the wise men. (Yes, I KNOW the latter two groups weren’t there at the same time – the shepherds appear in Luke 2, the three kings in Matthew 2, in different locations – but

Ensign: Our 2008 Christmas Letter
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 19 December 2008 The year 2008 was ... heavy. (Weight has nothing to do with it!) This first letter in three years that doesn’t start with a birth announcement has seen many changes for us. It’s our first full year in our house, and this September was the beginning of my sixth year with Fast Cash North, a payday loan provider here in Minot. Martha, on the other hand, remained with Good Shepherd Child Care teaching their two and three-year-olds until September. She’d started a second job with McDonald’s in June. Upon leaving Good Shepherd, Martha took on a second job as a cashier at Minot’s Super Wal-Mart as well. That was on the eve of our major out-of-town excursion to Seattle with Martha’s parents Robert and Sharon for hi

Ensign: A Partridge In A Pear Tree
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 26 December 2008 You may be able to tell from the title today what my favorite Christmas carol is. From the mid-16th to the mid-19th century in England, by one tradition, "The Twelve Days of Christmas" was created to remind Roman Catholics under persecution of the fundamentals of the Christian faith. For example, "ten lords-a-leaping" represented the Ten Commandments given to Moses on Mount Sinai and "four calling birds" represented the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Each day from today until January 6th has high regard in many churches. Today, the first day of Christmas, "my true love" -- God -- "gave to me: a partridge in a pear tree." That partridge symbolized Jesus coming to Earth as a baby, not in a pa

Ensign: Eight Maids-a-milking
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 2 January 2009 The title of today's message has been used as a code for the beatitudes -- the blessings Jesus gives in Matthew 5:3-11 at the opening of what we've come to call the Sermon on the Mount. Some statements made by World War II general Omar Bradley comes to my mind: "The world has achieved brilliance without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We have grasped the principles of the atom and we have rejected the Sermon on the Mount." Without sounding too bitter, I could say that's become our world over the last few years. Perhaps especially this year. The poor in spirit, they that mourn, the meek, they which do hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart,

Ensign: The Gospel According To Jesus Christ
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 16 January 2009 Last month when business was slow, among the books I read besides my daily Bible readings (and can I admit with you, sometimes what I read I don’t understand) was a novel by José Saramago, “The Gospel According to Jesus Christ”. (ISBN 0151367000) Why would an avowed atheist (who doesn’t believe in God, which you assume would be a given in working a story about the Christian Savior, the Son of God) and Communist (not as mutually exclusive, but talk amongst yourselves about that) write such a story? It takes into account what’s in the Gospels, sure, but also some Gnostic traditions such as Jesus' love affair with Mary Magdalene (made more famous on infamous by "The DaVinci Code"). Certainly nothing forbids Mr. Saramago from having his own point of view, but the book

Ensign: Hagar Was Snubbed!
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 22 January 2009 Today's title would be some interesting graffiti! Here's the story behind it; Abraham was the father to both Ishmael and Isaac (born in Genesis 16:15 and 21:2, respectively), but the two boys did not have the same mother. Isaac's mother Sarah (whom my daughter is named for, "actually" -- she loves that word!) is mentioned by name in the Bible fifty-five times, sixteen of those times under her original name Sarai. Ishmael's mother Hagar, Sarah's handmaiden, is mentioned by name twelve times in the Bible. Following the tradition that Ishmael became the progenitor of those people known today as Arabs as Isaac is for the Jews, one would think that the Islamic holy book, the Qur'an, would wax on about Hagar. An

Ensign: Love One Another
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 30 January 2009 The ethic of reciprocity -- college speak and Wikipedia's name for what we call the Golden Rule -- did not originate with Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. What gets distilled in our culture as "do unto others as you would have others do unto you" is rendered in the King James Version as Matthew 7:12. "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets." Unlike in most other religions, Jesus expresses this without negatives (i.e., what you don't want to you don't do to others). But the earliest known expression of the Golden Rule -- incidentally, why is it called that? -- isn't even in a religious text, but rather an ancient Egyp

Ensign: Our Letter In Revelation
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 6 February 2009 The second and third chapters of Revelation are a collection of seven letters to seven different churches. Besides being written to the historical churches of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea, they're also read as reflecting the church at different stages of its history, from then to now. Keep in mind that whenever church is referred to in the Bible, it's always to a specific assembly of believers in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, not to the building that necessarily houses them. And in many parts of the world, there is no church planning committee to deal with because there is no wood and nail house of worship to go to. One imagines what a letter of Jesus would soun

Ensign: Digital Courage
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 13 February 2009 About a month after my wife Martha and I corresponded online -- that's how we met, she living in North Dakota and I in Florida in 2000 -- I translated a letter I had prepared to email her into French with Altavista because she said she studied the language at university and sent it to her. The next day, I got back a "whoa!" response; Martha's French was nowhere near that good. And neither is mine, but the point is that it is very easy to pretend online to be someone we aren't. A pastor I heard on the radio called this tendency to pretend to be who we're not "digital courage" because we're putting out a front to others we meet on social networks, dating sites, etc. that may or may not, and in a great many instances

Ensign: Who We Are
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 20 February 2009 Paul's letters to the Colossians in the New Testament reflects his prayer for the church there to have a mature understanding of God's will for them. Keep in mind that "church" in the New Testament refers to as assembly of believers in Jesus as Lord and Savior, not to a building where said people gather. Besides having their doctrine clear (e.g., knowing what they believe) and not adding or subtracting from it, they're to do unto others ... ... as they would have others do unto them -- that is, to treat each other in the way and spirit their Lord would. Do you and I know anyone who's not so good at this? I bring this up because one scene from last week's episode come to mind including what one character said afte

Ensign: I Like Helping My Daddy
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 27 February 2009 My daughter Sarah turns three tomorrow, and it feels like I just saw her born in the hospital yesterday! I probably did, actually, the time goes by so fast ... our current goal is to successfully potty train her and there are days this doesn't quite work out. But then there are days she seems to get better at telling us when she needs to go or goes when we take her. This past Sunday before church I took her to the potty after she'd woken up and said this will help and Sarah came out with, "I like helping my daddy." This is true; I cannot get away with washing the dishes without Sarah offering to help or a dozen other things -- "let me do it" becomes the order of the day and some things I don't have the heart t

Ensign: The Prodigal Spin
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 6 March 2009 Even those of us who don't frequent the Bible should be familiar with Jesus' parable of the prodigal son. Told in Luke 15:11-32, the central figure for much of this story is the younger son who goes to his father for his part of the inheritance and proceeds to spend it quickly. When reduced as low as he can go, the son laments his decision and decides to go back to his father and become a servant. But when the father sees his son, he rushes to meet him and preparations are made for a big celebration, which the son hears and berates his father about: why the big ado about your son coming home, while I've been faithful to you? The father responds that he values his older son as well, but today he had to make merry

Ensign: The Home Stretch
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 13 March 2009 "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:" For those of you who've known me since at least the start of 2006, you are coming with me to the end of a journey through the Bible, chapter by chapter. Today when you're reading this I will be opening the book of Revelation, the final book of the Bible and one case where it pays to read the back of the book! We win! At least, those who have declared their faith and hope in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior do. It's been a long three-plus years; along with the journal I write in daily, this occurred to me because even

Ensign: A Tale Of Two Reunions
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 19 March 2009 Tomorrow Reunion Weekend begins at Stetson University that I graduated from fifteen years ago. After Martha and I had returned from Seattle last year, we were debating whether to go there or go to visit my mother in Kentucky for Mother's Day. Since we would be traveling with our two children, Sarah who's now three and Jeffrey's who now twenty months and my mom had never met Jeffrey, it was a pretty easy decision to make. A far easier decision to make, and one with far greater consequences for my life than a class reunion, was the decision to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Once any of us do that, we're guaranteed a presence at a far greater reunion, one of all the elect (those who've chosen and been c

Ensign: A Pressing, Praying Need
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 27 March 2009 RIVER REACHES RECORD HIGH IN FARGO, REGION BRACES [Fargo is 5 1/2 hours southeast of me on the Minnesota line; here in Minot snow and water's piling up too. Please pray with and for us who pray and must act! -- David] By NATE JENKINS and DAVE KOLPACK, – 7 mins ago [about 11:22 AM CST -- David] FARGO, N.D. – The rising Red River broke a 112-year record early Friday and breached one of the dikes fortifying the city, but the mayor pledged to "go down swinging" as he called for more evacuations and additional National Guard troops to prevent a devastating flood. The river swelled to 40.32 feet — more than 22 feet above flood stage and inches more than the previous high water mark of 40.1 feet set in 1897

Ensign: What If God Was One Of Us?
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an esnign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 3 April 2009 [I wrote this message last year, but in light of the approaching Holy Week in the church where we commemorate Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, His crucifixion, and His resurrection, it seemed appropriate to present it again now. How can we expect to relate to God and accpe Him into our lives if He doesn't know, through Jesus His Son, what it's like to be one of us? -- David] Last weekend I had the opportunity to re-read "Flatland", a late 19th century novel where all the characters are to our eyes two-dimensional figures like squares, circles, and triangles. The main character, A. Square, was elevated by Lord Sphere, a visitor from the third dimension of Spaceland, to see his own land from the Sphere's pers

Ensign: The Good Black Friday
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an esnign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 10 April 2009 Especially at this time of year, Christians ought to be shouting from the rooftops that Jesus is alive! Jesus' return to life after three days dead is THE signature event of Christianity -- but it couldn't have happened without His death. In a culture that often seems more concerned with feeling good and not growing up, the idea that rejoicing has to be preceded by suffering is uncomfortable. Like the aphorism, success only comes before work in the dictionary. And work takes sacrifice. Like all of us, Jesus didn't want to suffer; indeed, when He was alone in Gethsemane, "he fell on his face, and prayed, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." (M

Ensign: Why Study?
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 17 April 2009 Two weeks ago today, I started over reading the Bible cover to cover. Just before turning back from Revelation 22 to Genesis 1, I reflected on how much had happened in the three years and change I'd spent reading a chapter a day from the start of 2006 to the third of April this year (1,189 days, and the number of chapters in the Old and New Testaments) such as my wife and I moving into our first home, our children being born. And yet how much has stayed the same; we're still in Minot, and I'm still at the same occupation while she has changed assignments a few times. But we're still very much in love with each other, and I'm so thankful to God for that. Now what's my point today? When I have to ask myself that, I'm usually halfway lost ... but bear with me. I'm certain

Ensign: To And Fro
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 24 April 2009 "But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased." (Daniel 12:4) When the prophet Daniel hears this in his vision of the Antichrist and the end of the world from chapters 11 and 12, he has the natural question any of us would. "How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?" We wouldn't phrase verse 6 quite this way, but we have got to be wondering, after two thousand years since Jesus promised He would come again, and about five hundred years more from the date of this prophecy (2,500 years), when's it all going to happen? Part of it already has. Although our human understanding of God's Word and its impact on th

Ensign: Child Training
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 30 April 2009 “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” I do wish that the oft-quoted Proverbs 22:6 sounded more like a promise to my ears; at first reading and out of context with the rest of the chapter – heck, with the rest of the Bible – it doesn’t. But you and I both know of cases where children who’ve grown up in ostensibly Christian homes have ultimately made the decision to not pursue the faith that their parents have, or perhaps not in the way that they have. It’s a little scary how alike our children look to their parents and most of the time how they act. Granted, I don’t worry about this as much yet since my daughter&rsq

Ensign: Do Be Do Be Do
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 15 May 2009 ”Our last day at Mom’s has taught me – heck, this trip has taught me – a lot about how important our family is to me. It isn’t so much about going and doing (it also helps to be Internet free for a week, as Dan who changed our oil in Cawood said to me, in ‘the land that time forgot’) as it is about going and being.” I wrote that in my journal four days ago, and it almost sounds from a Christian standpoint sinful to say one should just exist – I mean, be. My family and I got back two nights ago from visiting my mom in southeastern Kentucky. Though she is not in the best of health (she’s seventy-two, if that means anything) and she didn’t want to go anyw

Ensign: Words
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 22 May 2009 “The B-I-B-L-E, yes that’s the book for me. I stand alone on the Word of God, the B-I-B-L-E. BIBLE!” My daughter Sarah’s heard that song from her cousin Josceline who’s in Sunday school (where she will start this fall) and when she sings that anywhere I’ve heard her it comes out, “I stand the Lord on the Word of God, the B-I-B-L-E. BIBLE!” I tried to correct her on this once, but she still does it and at three years old, I am not pushing for perfect lyrics or pitch. When do we realize that God is not pushing us to be perfect either? He knows we can’t do it; when Jesus says, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father … in heaven is perfect,&rdquo

Ensign: Quam Minimum Credula Postero
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 29 May 2009 Even if we’re not conversant in Latin, most of us know the meaning of the phrase “carpe diem”. People often cite it as an injunction to live in the moment and not be overly worried about the future. It translates roughly (like all translations) as “seize the day”. The original phrase found in the Odes of 1st century BC poet Horace is part of a sentence. Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero. “Seize the day, [and] put no trust in tomorrow!” It becomes easy for us to think that there is no rush to live in our witness for God – in fact, out of context you could make the argument from Scripture that NOT doing so will postpone the rapture and Jesus’ second coming indefinitely. The fact that one criterion is the entire world

Ensign: Give Me And Make Me
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 5 June 2009 The story of the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32 is something that most kids, if we’re honest with ourselves, will go through. And it’s not limited to the ages of childhood; everyone has the urge to try to make their own way in the world; normally, this is healthy because our children cannot dwell indefinitely with Mom and Dad. It defeats God’s purpose for men and women (to leave father and mother, per Genesis 2:24) and demeans us because we aren’t making or aren’t perceived as making the effort to get out from our parent’s shadow. “And [Jesus] said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me.

Ensign: Faith Of My Fathers
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 12 June 2009 Around this time of year, I’m usually writing a message that ties in to what we now call D-Day, the beginning of the Allied invasion of Europe during World War II. “D-Day” is technically the term for the opening day of any military attack, but the one sixty-five years ago this past sixth of June is the one most people remember best in regard to it. But my father wasn’t in the opening assault on Omaha Beach; indeed, he was with the Army inspector-general’s office and got there with that office on the twelfth – today, sixty-five years ago. Most of what I know about my dad’s military experience comes from what he told me as well as some of what I’ve seen, but I’m tryi

Ensign: No Lawyer Joke
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 19 June 2009 Today to be a “devil’s advocate” is to take the side in a debate that looks for what’s wrong in a proposal or what’s flawed in someone’s reasoning. Normally, this is part of a useful give and take of ideas that allows many people, each with a different viewpoint or a different approach to the same viewpoint, to decide whether taking or not taking a particular course of action is worth the consequences. Make no mistake, for we do live in a cause-and-effect world. I’ve heard the phrase and I’ve wondered what the opposite of that is. Is it an “angel’s advocate”, the opposite of devil in the lower-case sense? I did a little research and came up with &ldqu

Ensign: The Lord Hath Not Spoken By Me, Part 1
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 25 June 2009 Our first lesson today is simple: Do NOT take Scripture out of context. I bet some people have dumped this message thinking I've renounced God, but you either don't know me very well or you're convinced all religion is bunk anyway. Trust me, I do NOT want to add the plagues or subtract myself from the book of life as God promises in Revelation 21:18-19 for those who add or subtract anything! The phrase for today's title comes from Micaiah, son of Imlah. If his name doesn't ring a bell, maybe the name of the man he's recorded in 1 Kings 22 and 2 Chronicles 18 as saying this to does: Ahab, the king of Israel. Ahab who married Jezebel, Ahab whom the prophet Elijah faced down for promoting Baal-worship in Israel throughou

Ensign: The Lord Hath Not Spoken By Me, Part 2
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 3 July 2009 When I was going through the teacher education program at Stetson University (I graduated fifteen years ago? That’s still weird to me), one of my instructors let us know up front that she wouldn’t tolerate any instance of sarcasm directed at a student in the classroom. Dr. Dershimer – with all due respect, she looked like everybody’s grandma and seemed the LAST person who’d do this – said she once had a student kicked out of the program for that very thing. Even though the words of Scripture don’t convey the tone the speaker uses most of the time, one can’t help but believe that Micaiah, the prophet of the LORD we met last week in 1 Kings 22, was being sarcastic when he

Ensign: The Lord Hath Not Spoken By Me, Part 3
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 10 July 2009 “Now therefore, behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil concerning thee.” You could have heard a pin drop as Micaiah the prophet of the LORD was saying this, considering his audience. Ahab the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah were on their thrones situated in the threshing floor of the gate to enter Samaria, Israel’s capital city, and four hundred prophets (“thy prophets” of 1 Kings 22:23, the opening verse today) have already told their king to go attack Ramoth-Gilead because his success is guaranteed. Guaranteed by the prophets? No. Guaranteed by the LORD? Yes, to fail. The LORD isn’t breakin

Ensign: Knowing The Unborn Push
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 17 July 2009 Two video stores in my hometown are now advertising the latest movies they’ve got available on their signs facing the street. I found the wording of the one I drive by nearly every day on my way to work interesting. Top to bottom, the sign reads, “KNOWING UNBORN PUSH”. (For the movies “Knowing”, “The Unborn”, and “Push”, respectively.) There’s a message somewhere in that, I thought, and I pray that I use this opportunity to make it something interesting to you and pleasing to God. All the evangelism we’ll do is meaningless if we’re putting people to sleep with it! No one is ever mentioned as pregnant in Scripture. In each of the twenty-six citations of a woman ready to give birth to a child, the phrase i

Ensign: The Gift Of The Magi
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 23 July 2009 “Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem. Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.” (Matthew 2:1-2) In the second chapter of Matthew, we are introduced to the wise men who saw the star appear over Jesus’ Earthly birthplace. They meet the local ruler (Herod), they go to the place the prophets foretold (Bethlehem), they present their gifts, and they are warned to not return to Herod and go home. Since the time the Bible was written, human tradition has added layer upon layer to this simple meeting. “We Three Kings of Orient Are” may be a popular hymn, but it may not be historical

Ensign: Present At The Incarnation
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 31 July 2009 I’m no believer in reincarnation – in a nutshell, the doctrine of some Eastern religions that one’s life is constantly lived over and over in other bodies or as other entities – but if I were, I would be hard pressed to not believe that my son Jeffrey is a reincarnation of my dad. My dad died in October 2006 and Jeffrey was born in July 2007; that’s a nine-month gap for gestation and maturity in Martha’s belly. The thing is, even if I believed reincarnation were true, according to the doctrine myself I wouldn’t remember it, I’d have to do a past-life regression, and that would take even more faith than I have. “And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, n

Ensign: I Don't Know
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 7 August 2009 A few weeks ago I’d written one of these messages and it wasn’t long after the pixels appeared on one site that I got a response amounting to “I’m convinced you don’t know the slightest thing about prayer or faith.” At first, I was tempted to dismiss that as the raving of an atheist (which this commentator is) who saw “God” and pounced on someone using the G word with a modicum of respect, but after exchanging a few civil words (yes, really) with him I thought there’s some truth to what he’s saying. Let’s just make sure, pardon the pun, we know what we mean when we say we KNOW something. “One thing I know for certain, and that is I know nothing.” -- attributed to Socrates The top definition of &ldqu

Ensign: Back To School
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 14 August 2009 A month from yesterday, my church’s Sunday school program is starting again. At first when I moved to North Dakota, I was a little thrown that Sunday school didn’t stretch through the summer and area churches as a rule reduce their number of services (in more ways than one); it gave me the first impression that God and people’s want to meet Him takes a summer vacation too. He does rest – in fact, at creation the LORD set aside the seventh day for that – but He doesn’t slumber or sleep (Genesis 2:2 and Psalm 121:4); I would say that’s becoming un-alert to what’s going on. Alas, you and I are designed to require rest, slumber, and sleep. A month from yesterday will also be the day our daughter Sarah starts Sunday school, and we&

Ensign: With The Temptation
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 21 August 2009 “Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give unto thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.” (Matthew 4:8-9) After forty days of fasting, Jesus was at one of the physically low points of His earthly life. “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.” In the fourth chapter of Matthew, we see Jesus respond to each of Satan’s barbs with Scripture. “If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread,” an appeal to Jesus’ physical hunger, was met with Jesus’ statement of His priorities. So was Satan’s challenge on the p

Ensign: I Sold My Soul On Ebay
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 28 August 2009 I looked at the title, and it flashed across my mind that my soul would probably not make the minimum bid on the famous (or infamous, depending on what you’ve heard) online auction site eBay. Christians and I expect anyone with faith convictions take the matter of one’s soul, using Dictionary.com’s definition “the principle of life … in humans, regarded as a distinct entity separate from the body”, seriously. I wondered how the author, atheist Hemant Mehta of “I Sold My Soul on eBay” (ISBN 9781400073474), would approach the churches he was asked to attend as a result of a former pastor posting the winning bid. To be honest, Mehta said some of the things I’m thinking, and without too much venom! We go through the m

Ensign: When You And I Pray
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 4 September 2009 The first Thursday of May is designated in the United States as the National Day of Prayer. Of course, we shouldn’t be looking for an excuse to pray, we should be looking for a reason! I make no claim to be an authority on the subject, but I will say that some of the most heartfelt prayers I’ve heard came from people who aren’t eloquent. I think I am a little, but God is not an editor – He’s looking for people who will pour out their hearts to Him and who will do what He calls them to. Others’ piety shouldn’t impress us; what they do as a result of it can. The Lord’s Prayer (starting “Our Father which art in heaven …” from Matthew 6:9-13) is sim

Ensign: After 9/11, Now What?
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 11 September 2009 I feel like I’m supposed to say something about the September 11 attacks, today eight years from the event. Perhaps I’m the only one who notices you’re almost made out to be unpatriotic (at least in the United States, my home country) if you don’t – at least to my knowledge, Patriot Day cards don’t exactly fly off the shelves. Not that I don’t grieve, not that I have no respect for those who lost their lives and those who serve so prayerfully so another 9/11 won’t happen, but in the hoopla we can lose sight of what to live for. It’s not enough to be thankful for life, as emphasized in the Hebrew toast “L’chaim” – we need to be reminded of what to live life for. The book of Deuteronomy opens

Ensign: Joseph's Lesson Of Forgiveness
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 18 September 2009 Thirteen chapters of Genesis get devoted to telling the story of Joseph. Perhaps he’s also best known in our culture as the main character of the musical “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” and it is true his father Jacob gave him a “coat of many colors” to show – did Joseph think this or did Jacob tell him outright? – that he was his favorite son. This did not sit well with his eleven other brothers to start with. Then Joseph told his brothers, rather indecorously, about his dreams in which their shaves of wheat all bowed to his and then the one in which the sun, moon, and stars bowed to him. I try to cut him some slack because he’s seventeen and the world’s in front of him … Whereas his bro

Ensign: The Phantom Menace
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 25 September 2009 Qui-Gon Jinn: Don't center on your anxieties, Obi-Wan. Keep your concentration here and now, where it belongs. Obi-Wan Kenobi: But Master Yoda says I should be mindful of the future. Qui-Gon Jinn: But not at the expense of the moment. Be mindful of the living Force, my young Padawan. A few weeks ago, one of the devotions I read in the morning caught my eye for the pop culture reference it used. It referred to a scene from “The Empire Strikes Back” my all-time favorite movie and Episode V of the Star Wars movie saga … but more about that in a few weeks. So you know if you want to get my attention, use a Star Wars reference. I’m sure I drive my wife crazy from time to time calling her “Jedi Master” and our kids have the basic ide

Ensign: Attack Of The Clones
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 2 October 2009 Yoda: Blind we are, if the creation of this clone army we could not see. Mace Windu: I think it is time to inform the Senate that our ability to use the Force has diminished. Yoda: Only the Dark Lords of the Sith know of our weakness. If informed, the Senate is, multiply, our adversaries will. I remember the first time I heard the use of the word “clone” as a genetically perfect duplicate of another being. It was on a Saturday morning TV series called “Jason of Star Command”, and the main villain of the show made a clone of his archenemy the title character’s commanding officer. I brought up the word “clone” in a first grade vocabulary exercise for words ending in “one” and stood my ground when my teacher denie

Ensign: Revenge Of The Sith
[Please note my email address now ends in gmail and not yahoo. -- David] All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 9 October 2009 Palpatine: The war is over. The Separatists have been eliminated. And the Jedi rebellion has been foiled. We stand on the threshold of a new beginning. Bail Organa: What's happening? Padmé: The Chancellor has been elaborating on a plot by the Jedi to overthrow the Senate. Palpatine: The remaining Jedi will be hunted down and defeated! Any collaborators will suffer the same fate! These have been trying times, but we have passed the test. The attempt on my life has left me scarred and deformed. But, I assure you, my resolve has never been stronger! In order to ensure our security and continuing stability, the Republic will be reorganized into the First Galactic Empire...for a safe and secure soci

Ensign: A New Hope
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 16 October 2009 Luke Skywalker: [Getting out of a hole in the Millenium Falcon's floor] It’s lucky you had these things. Han Solo: These are for smuggling, but I never thought I’d be smuggling myself. This is ridiculous. Even if I could take off, I’d never get past the tractor beam. Ben Kenobi: Leave that to me. Han Solo: Damn fool, I knew you were going to say that. Ben Kenobi: Who’s more foolish? The fool, or the fool who follows him? When I was a kid, even though you would never hear a profane word escape my lips, I related the most to Han Solo out of the entire Star Wars series. The guy who felt the rules were made to be broken, the perennial outsider, the man whose best friend was a “walking carpet” … OK, not the last one. If th

Ensign: The Empire Strikes Back
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 23 October 2009 Yoda: Control! Control! You must learn control! Luke Skywalker: I saw... I saw a city in the clouds. Yoda: Hmm. Friends you have there. Luke Skywalker: They were in pain! Yoda: It is the future you see. Luke Skywalker: The future? Will they die? Yoda: Difficult to see. Always in motion the future is. Luke Skywalker: I’ve gotta go to them. Yoda: Decide you must how to serve them best. If you leave now, help them you could, but... you would destroy all for which they have fought and suffered. I’ll have to watch “The Empire Strikes Back” again because I always thought Yoda’s line was “Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future.” And in the strictest sense, that’s true – the future doesn’t even exis

Ensign: Return Of The Jedi
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 30 October 2009 Princess Leia Organa: Luke, what’s wrong? Luke Skywalker: Leia, do you remember your mother? Your real mother? Princess Leia Organa: Just a little bit. She died when I was very young. Luke Skywalker: What do you remember? Princess Leia Organa: Just images, really. Feelings. Luke Skywalker: Tell me. Princess Leia Organa: She was very beautiful. Kind, but sad. Why are you asking me all this? Luke Skywalker: I have no memory of my mother. I never knew her. Princess Leia Organa: Luke, tell me. What’s troubling you? Luke Skywalker: Vader’s here. Now, on this moon. Princess Leia Organa: How do you know? Luke Skywalker: I felt his presence. He’s come for me. He can feel when I’m near. That’s why I have to go. As long as I stay, I&rsqu

Ensign: The Good Black Friday
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 6 November 2009 [Since I’m trying to spend more time working on a historical novel about the Old Testament book of Numbers (titled “The Book of Numbers”), I’ll be re-presenting some older messages that I’ve sent out during this month. I need to have fifty thousand words done by the thirtieth and broke nine thousand last night, hallelujah! – David] Especially at this time of year [this was originally written on Good Friday, but I thought it apropos today too] Christians ought to be shouting from the rooftops that Jesus is alive! Jesus’ return to life after three days dead is THE signature event of Christianity – but it couldn’t have happened without His death. In a culture that often see

Ensign: Where Sharing Is It's Own Reward
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 13 November 2009 A local radio station in my hometown is using this slogan to promote its annual “Horn of Plenty” program that raises groceries to assemble food baskets for families at Christmas who apply (check that, you can’t apply yourself but you can submit someone’s name to receive such a basket) along with a devotional to introduce the Word of God to them. Not a Bible, specifically, but something to help you ”understand” it ... never mind that, my minor quibble is with the slogan itself. It’s a minor quibble because, if you remember your English classes, the phrase should NOT have a contraction in it. Expand the contraction (stay with me, this is not cosmology) and this slogan reads &ld

Ensign: Why Judges Doesn't End At Chapter 16
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 19 November 2009 [I was strolling through my archives of Ensign and found this study set in the book of Judges. Since I'm currently reading in it on my second run through of the Bible, I found and hope you will as well something to learn from as well as neat to read. Since I'd originally written this on 5/5/05, my style has changed, but I pray to God not the message. And now back to my novel "The Book of Numbers" at 33,248 words (66 typed pages) as of last night -- have an awesome and blessed weekend! David] After the death of Samson, no more judges come forth in the book. Taken all together, the administration of the judges and the years of rest Israel had between them covers nearly 400 years. (The final judge of Israel, t

Ensign: Knowing The Unborn Push Six Months Later
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 21 January 2010 Six months ago I wrote an Ensign titled "Knowing the Unborn Push" using a sign I'd read in town as inspiration to present God's call to life and how even the well-intentioned pro-life movements often get it wrong. We can't just say "let the baby be born" and then leave them at the hospital. Here in the United States where I'm writing, tomorrow is the thirty-seventh anniversary of a Supreme Court (that's the head of the judicial branch of our government which interprets the laws) decision that legalized what Hippocrates called "an abortive remedy", e.g. abortion of a human being in their mother's womb. Every year you will hear in this country about prayers and attempts and cajoling to "overturn Roe v. Wade", the 1973 decision that made abortion a legally sanctioned if not ethicall

Ensign: My God, It's Full Of Stars
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 29 January 2010 I expect you and I know more about the stars in the sky than even the most intelligent person who lived and died when the Bible was written did. But do you ever look up … and just LOOK at them on a clear night? Those points of light do not twinkle naturally – that’s a diffraction effect of our atmosphere analogous to looking at a straw half-immersed in clear liquid – and they’re not actually where you see them due to the time the star’s light took to get to where you or anyone with a decent telescope can see where it’s been. Though light IS the fastest physical phenomenon in the universe, it still takes a long time to get where it’s going. The closest star to Earth minus our sun is called Proxima Centauri (next to the be

Ensign: Colts And Saints
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 5 February 2010 No, the order of today’s title does not indicate who I want to win Sunday’s Super Bowl – truth be known, I’m really not a football fan. I wasn’t allowed to play it in school because my parents feared my head would get bopped with the ball, it would knock my shunt loose and cause bleeding in my alleged brain so we would not be having this pleasant conversation today. If you’re into very bad puns, this year’s Super Bowl may well be the most Bible-thumping in recent memory, especially since (not Indianapolis) Colts and (not New Orleans) Saints are both mentioned in Scripture! Let’s cut to the chase; where does God possibly tie these two together and what can we learn from it? What any Bible study or devotional script ought to do &h

Ensign: You Know
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 19 February 2010 Right now in my read-through of the Bible I’m reading the Old Testament book of Second Kings. Monday I came across chapter five in which the story of Naaman, the captain of the Syrian army, comes down with leprosy. In those times (and it still is in parts of the world, I understand) as a social disease it was the much more visible equivalent of AIDS today. The story of Naaman and how he was cured of his leprosy by trusting God’s word through His prophet Elisha and bathing seven times in the Jordan River gets cited – to me, I’ve heard the story many times since I was a kid – as getting past your pride and doing God’s will. But there’s more to it than that. Right after Naaman is cured (and Elisha doesn’t witness the e

Ensign: Being Margaret Hamilton
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 26 February 2010 "I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog too!" Are there any seventy-year-old movies today that have the appeal and the memorability of "The Wizard of Oz"? With all due respect, "Gone With The Wind" doesn't even come close in terms of its all-ages appeal and enduring catchphrases ("there's no place like home", "pay no attention to that man behind the curtain", "if I only had [pick a feature]") and even its songs I don't find annoying! The actress who has graciously lent her name to today's title ... a hundred points to anybody who can tell me another role she's played besides the Wicked Witch of the West! Margaret Hamilton did play other parts, both before and after "The Wizard of Oz", but it's that role that she was most identified with. More than once, hav

Ensign: The Measure Of A Man
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 4 March 2010 HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PATRICK! My oldest nephew where I live in North Dakota turns eighteen years old today (my oldest nephew I know of is in Illinois and he's thirty-one, but that's another story); at least here in the United States it means he's old enough to vote and sign contracts without a co-signer. It's a heavy responsibility, and after he graduates high school at the end of May it's going to hit hard without a plan for life. I was eighteen years old twenty years ago. I remember that without something to go on to, a next stage of your life where you're planning to commit to become someone out of your parents' or guardians' shadow, you are in for a rough ride. Education past high school or travel abroad can only put off your need (yes, you read that right, your NEED) to

Ensign: Earthquake!
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 12 March 2010 I’m told that the only way to know what an earthquake is like is to live through one. This I have not done and I’m not really seeking to experience what many people throughout the world have just this year to date! The four I can count off that come to mind – January in Haiti, February in Chile, March in Taiwan and at the start of this week in Turkey – amaze me not so much because they happened and my heart and prayers go out to those recovering from them, but that so many are occurring in so short a time. It’s at this point some devotionals go into calling the increased amount of earthquakes signs of what the world has to endure before Jesus returns, according to what He said on the Mount of Olives as excerpted in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luk

Ensign: The Classic, The Bridge, And The Current
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 19 March 2010 When my family and I were in Bismarck last week, I noticed a church sign with today’s title on the marquee. Accompanying “The Classic”, “The Bridge”, and “The Current” were times for what I guessed were church services – that is, the same message preached in each service, but the accompanying music and programs within their services designed to appeal to a particular age or mindset. It wasn’t so much of a shock to me, even though I grew up in a traditional church setting with the “thee”s and “thou”s intact. I attended a church for three years where they sincerely tried to make both a “contemporary” and “traditional” service work, but you’ve got to have the peop

Ensign: The Story Of A Man Named Alfred
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 26 March 2010 One morning Alfred who was rich and had more than three hundred patents in his name read his obituary in the morning paper. All of his discoveries had been in the field of death and destruction – at least, in objects more often than not used to kill and destroy – and included dynamite, smokeless gunpowder, high-powered explosives, and this death notice reflected a life of the man perhaps single-handedly responsible for escalating the arms race. Alfred was horrified to see this portrayal of him as a heartless monster, even after the newspaper that published his obituary admitted its mistake – it was his brother who had died – and changed his life. And you may know Alfred better for what he did after this epiphany over the last eight years of his

Ensign: What's So Good About Friday?
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 2 April 2010 [Wow … I wrote this THREE years ago? I’m not in the habit of repeating myself – indeed, I had another topic in mind entirely until noon yesterday and the title of this devotion I’d written before crossed my mind. Actually, I say it hit me like a spiritual two-by-four, but doesn’t that get our attention? So does Good Friday. – David] When I was growing up, the church I attended didn’t deal with Holy Week, just the culmination of it on Easter Sunday (sometimes called Resurrection Sunday because Easter and its symbols have some non-Christian associations). Indeed, until recent years I didn’t know very much about Holy Week itself. Tonight at the church I’m a member

Ensign: David And The Census
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 9 April 2010 “And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.” 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21 tell the same story with slightly different wording – David as king of Israel called for all the people in the kingdom he ruled in the name of the LORD to be counted. This isn’t in and of itself a bad thing; in fact, in the United States our own constitution mandates it (Article I, section ii, clause 3, sentence two) and it’s hardly sinful to be counted as a citizen of one’s own country. But it’s the motive with which we do even the most necessary and obvious things that God weighs. I began with the opening of 1 Chronicles 21’s account; let’s proceed to t

Ensign: We Can Choose To Be The Proverbs 31 People
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 16 April 2010 Proverbs 31 is usually most often remembered for its characterization of the ideal, Godly woman (“Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.”, 10). Sometimes it’s the subject of emulation, sometimes it feels like an impossible task to be like her (e.g., “Help! I’m Being Attacked By The Proverbs 31 Woman!”, the title of an actual self-help book). But just for a moment, let’s take a look today at the first third of Proverbs 31, where king Lemuel is reiterating “the prophecy that his mother taught him” (1). Outside of this verse, we’re told nothing about the man himself; perhaps that’s because the message is meant to be applicable to

Ensign: I Lift My Lamp Beside The Golden Door
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 21 April 2010 “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” I doubt the words of “The New Colossus” (the poem inscribed at the base of the Statue of Liberty) greeted Ruth upon her arrival with Naomi from Moab to Judah, but such a sentiment had to occur to her. She had the faith that the God Naomi claimed as a citizen of Israel – even in the days of the judges, when no king ruled and unified the land, this was important – would not only look out for her but also for herself. And the end of the book proves Ruth right beyond her wildest expectations! Ruth not only had the faith, she also had TO HAVE the faith that God would provide wherever she would go. Oth

Ensign: Christianity For Vegans
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 30 April 2010 Today’s title doesn’t refer to any inhabitants we may one day find on a star twenty-five light years from Earth (DC Comics has made a cottage industry out of that) but rather to people here on terra firma with a particular dietary preference. (Or am I supposed to say “lifestyle change” as I can never stick to a diet?) Where vegetarians are willing to do without meat, vegans go one step further and refuse to not only eat meat but also refuse to eat or wear or use any product that comes from an animal. To you who are vegans reading this, I’m sure I’m oversimplifying it. Please forgive me if and where I am. Sometimes writing a devotional like this – I’ve heard pastors

Ensign: My Statement Of Faith
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 7 May 2010 “My faith is believing. Believing in Jesus [as] my Lord and Savior, believing in the Holy Spirit and God and all his promises. That God will save me from my sins and deliver me from evil and bring me to heaven when the time is right. Faith is learning and knowledge. I want to know all there is to know about my religion. I want to know why God’s love is so great. I want to know all about the kingdom of heaven. And who knows? Maybe some day I’ll be standing at the pulpit speading God’s word and making the world a better and more beautiful place for all.”

Ensign: Go Ask The Spartans
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 13 May 2010 The ancient Spartans may only be remembered by some of us in their adjective form (lower case) meaning bare, harsh, stern, and disciplined. Make no mistake, the Spartans of ancient Greece were all these things and didn’t care if you knew or were put off by it; they trained almost from birth for physical fitness and martial prowess. If you were born weak, you were left to die. Even their personal lives, such as they were (men living in communal mess halls throughout their adult lives was not uncommon) reflected an almost fear of adornment. After one victory, a Spartan general looked at the opulent tent of his enemy and remarked “see how they lived like this, and came to rob us of our poverty?” Say w

Ensign: City Folk
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 21 May 2010 [“Spoke with Mary this morning and the nurse said mom is more paranoid today then yesterday and they are leaning to sending her back to the behavioral unit. I am trying to get in touch with the doctor. In the mean time mom does not want anyone to call her (she is refusing all calls). She told Mary to let us know she is alright and not to worry. When I know more I will pass it along. Love all” I got this letter from my sister Rose yesterday with news from my aunt Mary who is my mom’s sister. We’re supposed to go see my mom in Kentucky next month, and I ask for your prayers with us for her, please! -- David] I remember Hard Rock Cafes being highly popular in the 1990s (I suppose they still are,

Ensign: It Was A Sunny Day In 1432 ...
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 28 May 2010 … well, perhaps not so sunny considering the weather England is often known for (with my apologies to those reading this who live there) when young men preparing to graduate from Oxford University stepped forward and each gave a sermon. In Latin. At this time, churches were by and large the only place to get an education in Western Europe. We don’t require that today, but the service where this was done is now known as a baccalaureate service. Derived from “bacca lauri” for the bachelor’s degree they were to receive from Oxford and the laurel wreath they were crowned with for their sermon, it’s still a celebration of those graduating and preparing for the next part of their lives.

Ensign: Matters
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 4 June 2010 I bought some small items at a rummage sale in town last weekend, and among my change was the oldest dollar bill I had ever held in my hand. I’ve still got it right now, a 1995 series bill that is really showing its age, likely from its being handled so much. In the “normal” course of events, this bill would have gotten shredded or recycled years ago (typical lifespan of U.S. paper currency: eighteen months) but it’s still good. I expect I could spend it, not because of the bill’s worth but for eleven words on it. “THIS NOTE IS LEGAL TENDER FOR ALL DEBTS, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE”. Because the Department of the Treasury that made that dollar and makes all the paper currency and c

Ensign: A Prayer For Habakkuk
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 11 June 2010 [My family and I are heading out tonight to see my mom in Kentucky. She’s been in a nursing home since January and just got out of the hospital with Hospice having given her two weeks. Her urine output is low, she’s taking very little nourishment, and though I know she is saved by grace and Jesus will welcome her with open arms, it’s still hard to not be sad and nervous. Please pray for all of us, and I’ll see you in two weeks, thank you. – David] “The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.” The opening verse of the book named for the eighth so-called minor prophet tells us very little about him save he may have been a reluctant messenger. Just why, the Biblical accoun

Ensign: Who Do You Say
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 25 June 2010 Jesus asked His disciples three times in Scripture who others thought He was. Matthew 16, Mark 8, and Luke 9 likely refer to the same event because each account has Jesus ask them after the miracle in which He feeds the five thousand. As witnesses to an event that could only have been done by God Himself, it would be easy to get swept up in the crowd’s acceptance of Jesus. But Jesus knew how fickle fame was; He brought the disciples back to Earth when He asked Who He was to them. Like the best speakers, He sought to not make a direct criticism. First He asked (in Matthew 19:13, Mark 8:27, and Luke 9:18), ”Who do others say I am?” The disciples’ answers alternated between what they knew of proph

Ensign: On This Journey
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 1 July 2010 At church Sunday, Pastor Gerald made an interesting distinction between taking a trip and taking a journey in regard to being a follower of Jesus. It’s easy for many of us, I expect, to hear Him call “follow Me” and not immediately be able to drop everything that we think is important to us (or really IS important to us). But were Peter, Matthew, and the rest – YES, even Judas – necessarily any busier than you or I are now, or do the tools we use and the people and priorities in our lives just have different names? In most dictionaries, “trip” and “journey” in the sense of travel from point a to point b are synonymous, but when we enter the gospel it takes on a new dimension. Since my family and I just got back from a “trip&

Ensign: Parable Of The Sower
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 9 July 2010 “A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it.” That’s the beginning of Jesus’ parable – a Bible story designed to communicate what God or heaven is like – of the sower as told in Luke chapter eight verse five. I have a reason for going with this and not the telling in Mark chapter four today, so bear with me. This parable is often read as God being the sower, the one who plants the seeds, but I’d like to think He would not plant willy-nilly where He knows a seed is going to get attacked or snatched. “And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture.” Someone soon is going to googl

Ensign: The Challenge Is Never Gone
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 16 July 2010 I like a challenge. And the response I gave Pastor Gerald Wednesday night (that AND getting up at three-thirty in the morning to make sure my daughter Sarah uses her nebulizer for asthma overnight) left me a little lukewarm inside. By no means have I or anyone else, I think, mined all there is out of the story told in the eleventh chapter of John – and when you think about it, there are several stories there that only culminate in the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Lazarus was sick, and Jesus said it was allowed so the glory of God would be revealed. Jesus says let’s go, even though most of the disciples think it’s suicide for Him to go. Thomas says let’s go, and they go. Look with me for a

Ensign: Pass The Test
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 23 July 2010 “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone into the world.” John’s first letter is a restatement of the key points in living a Christian life. While we have to be receptive to whatever call God has for our lives, even when we don’t agree with Him, we are not condemned for asking why this specific call. The verse quoted above, 1 John 4:1, tells us three things. Not every call on our time (in the life of the church, ”not every spirit”) has equal validity, not every test of God’s Word (“try the spirits”) is a sign of our unfaithfulness, and not every person (“many false persons&rd

Ensign: The Schedule You Keep
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 29 July 2010 Planners. I see shelves upon shelves of them when we’re in a bookstore (hey, this is MY kid-in-a-candy-store experience) and I know many, many people use them to remember things and … well, plan out what they expect to do over days, weeks, months, and even years. But sometimes it’s so easy to plan out the future that we don’t see what we’re doing or what we can do right now – for me a big bugaboo is putting off playing with the kids when they ask for me, even though I know they won’t always do that. One big schedule keeper (or killer, depending on how you view it) is the big event that predicates the end of our life or at least as we know it. In popular cult

Ensign: Hi Mom!
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 5 August 2010 HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM! In the month and a half since my family and I went to visit my mom at a nursing home in Kentucky, I have heard almost nothing but good news! As of late last week, she’s not on her oxygen tank 24/7 and is walking around and taking part in life where she is. At least that’s how I word it, and I thank God for that! The mourning has become dancing (Psalm 30:11), just one promise of His fulfilled when we come before Him with what’s on our heart. Love is not a feeling; it is a willing. I heard that from a minister some days ago and that got me to thinking about the first love you and I probably know, our love for our mother. (You thought I’d say, “love for Go

Ensign: Triskaidekaphobia
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 13 August 2010 So I’ve been spelling this wrong all these years. The fear of thirteen as opposed to the fear of the day Friday the Thirteenth (we’ll get to that in a minute) is known as triskaidekaphobia and comes from the Greek for “three and ten fear [of]”. Why in our society such a prevalent fear or irrational reaction exists about the expression of a particular value (all a number is) seems to be even more prevalent and irrational – why you won’t find a thirteenth floor in many buildings, for instance – because we don’t know when or where it started. We can’t point to one point and say “there it is”; we like control, we like to know, with our fears as we

Ensign: Square Candies That Look Round
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 20 August 2010 “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” has been one of my favorite books since the second grade. After lunch for more than a month, my second grade teacher Mrs. Stanmier would have all of the kids in class lay their heads down on their desks and she’d read us a chapter. I only remember the sound of her voice reading the Oompa-Loompas’ song lamenting the fate of Augustus Gloop (“the great big greedy nincompoop”) but the whole story did – pardon the pun – stick with me and still does, despite the efforts of two movie adaptations that don’t do the book justice! My opinion; like a nose, we’ve all got one. Happy Birthday Kaitlin! One scene that’s

Ensign: A Prayer For Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 27 August 2010 I generally don’t mention current political figures here because no matter how much I protest I’m not endorsing or agreeing with someone, someone reads it as my doing so. But it came to my mind last week, particularly with the current president of Iran so much in the news and at least many people I know ready in light of some current developments in that country to prophesy the end of the world (or at least a significant change in the world) is nigh, that it’s easy to forget who we are in a crisis. Many say we learn who we really are in a crisis, but I would attest it shows more who we really are. “And [Jesus] spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and to

Ensign: Lord, Have Mercy And That's It?
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 17 September 2010 “The world is made up of a number of people and they rarely think alike. In the long run, this seems a very wise provision. A government of and by and for one single part of the entire community cannot possibly survive. The Puritans had been a great force for good when they tried to correct the abuses of the royal power. As the absolute Rulers of England they became intolerable.” This passage from Hendrik Willem van Loon’s “The Story of Mankind” (published in 1926 and the first book to win a Newbery Medal the year after) can really be applied to any reform movement. Labor unions in our day, the Nazis and Communists (surprised? Yes, they started out w

Ensign: You Must Not Remember What I Say
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 24 September 2010 I once read a motivational speaker’s book and he began with the phrase I’m using today. YOU MUST NOT REMEMBER WHAT I SAY. In case you were confused and thought you picked up a book on hypnosis … the author’s point was that you have to remember what you think and what you’re going to do as a result of what you hear. It’s not enough to be challenged; what are you going to do about it? I’m going out on a limb here, but I don’t think Jesus when He walked the earth had a reporter following Him documenting the teaching and the miracles and the fellowship He had with others. YES, we have the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life in the New Testament and YES, they

Ensign: Turn Off The Cruise Control
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 1 October 2010 “From Eli we learn there is no ‘cruise control’ in the Christian life. There is no point where we can say, ‘I’ve done enough to serve the Lord,” and then coast on into heaven. Every day needs to be a conscious effort to practice the calling that God has given us. Not because God may change his mind about your salvation – that’s set for eternity – but because God has a will and purpose for you while you’re still on this earth, ‘plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope’ (Jer[emiah]. 29:11). Satan wants to take away this future. Even if he’s lost your soul to heaven, he’ll work day and night to prevent

Ensign: A Better Idea
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 8 October 2010 “The earth cooled ... its surface scum hardened into continents ... oceans fell from the sky ... and if you believe most biology textbooks, life emerged from nutrient-rich puddles of ‘organic soup.’ There’s only one thing wrong with the organic-soup hypothesis: it's almost certainly false ... and most scientists know it. But, in the absence of a better idea, they have held onto this one.” (Larry Gonick, “The Cartoon History of the Universe”, volume 1, 1990) In the absence of a better idea … wow, that’s got to take a lot of faith. Personally, how long the earth has existed – there are old Earth and young Earth proponents and this is no more a d

Ensign: The Faith Of Outcasts
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 15 October 2010 In the second chapter of Joshua, the story of the Israelites in Canaan picks up with Joshua sending two spies into Jericho, the first major city they come to. “And they went, and came into a harlot’s house, named Rahab, and lodged there.” (1) The spies went to the last place they expected anyone to look in order to keep hidden; harlots (whores, prostitutes) had even less social standing than they do now – they were commodities to be used and used and then thrown away. It would be easy to take a cynic’s view and see Rahab’s offer of shelter as an opportunity to either get back at the people of Jericho or to use the spies to get into the king’s good graces. But something

Ensign: Silverbolt And The Cowardly Lion
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 22 October 2010 Among the first generation of the fictional robots known as the Transformers (“more than meets the eye”; I’ve never outgrown the originals of the 1980s, and the live-action movies come out to me as a bit of an insult) was a group that transformed into jet fighters and the five of them could merge and become one giant robot. There were called the Aerialbots, and Optimus Prime the leader of the Autobots noticed after a battle with the Decepticons that one of them named Silverbolt was afraid of heights. This is a problem if in your vehicle form you can fly!

Ensign: In Medias Res
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 29 October 2010 Barring our being called to meet Jesus in the air (the short version of 1 Thessalonians 4:12-18) during our lifetimes, we have a one hundred percent chance of dying. And we’re most likely to die in the middle of doing something, whether profound or simple. Hence my title for today’s message, the Latin phrase meaning “in the middle of things” often used to describe the time and place an event is supposed to take place in. “In medias res” dates back to Homer’s Iliad from the eighth century BC, and I also got to use it when writing my second novel at the end of the story. This shouldn’t come as a big shock, for we were also born in the middle of things – that is, life was alr

Ensign: How Bunnybury Welcomed The Strangers
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 19 November 2010 WORD COUNT: 32,539 “So I was on my may to open the office where I work forty hours a week when I saw a man probably not much older than me with a graying beard and walking on crutches waiting at a traffic light. At first I drove by (hey, I needed to get to work) but then turned around and asked him whether he needed was waiting for someone or needed a ride somewhere. “He said he needed to get to the Salvation Army headquartered at the other end of town from where he was, so I gave Ted a ride – he’s in Minot looking for work and has traveled east from a town in northeast Washington state (sounds like “I own”) where there wasn’t any, and right now he’s got a bum knee and owes m

Ensign: How Ozma Refused To Fight For Her Kingdom
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 26 November 2010 WORD COUNT: 44,759 So Edwin Booth, Ozma of Oz, and Jesus Christ walk into a bar … no, that’s not how I had originally intended to start today’s message out, but it’s amazing how when you let the Holy Spirit move you (and make no mistake, I believe the third Person of the Holy Trinity does) you get to see connections you couldn’t have imagined on your own. Then what do you do with them? Ah, that’s our job (or ay, there’s the rub – if you want to sound Shakespearean) to teach those who do not know about God and the deliverance available through His Son and live it! Edwin Booth was part of a long family line of actors known for playing major characters in the plays of William Sh

Ensign: How The Epic Doesn't Lose Its Meaning
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 3 December 2010 Okay, okay, no more “how”s beginning Ensign titles for the rest of the year! (Come on, rejoice a little bit with me!) Got a bit burned out on them after using chapter titles from “The Emerald City of Oz” (that all begin with “how”) all month. But one friend’s Facebook status a couple of weeks ago – something to the effect of “has the epic lost its meaning” – prompted me to keep this one in the back of my mind. Because the greatest story ever told can lose meaning for us when we lose our ability to be awed, as though immaculate conceptions happen every day. “And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,&r

Ensign: Holy Ghost, Batman!
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 17 December 2010 I don’t do street very well, do I? I remember when I was much younger – I just turned thirty-nine six days ago – and in Sunday school our lesson was about Mary and Elisabeth meeting when they both knew through divine appointment they were going to give birth (Mary to Jesus, Elisabeth to John) and I got asked how they met or how Mary even got to see Elisabeth to give her the news. About ten minutes of circumlocution ranging from “Mary called [her]” to “Mary drove” and other answers showing my upbringing and ubiquitous use of late twentieth century technology got me to say the answer Mary put one foot in front of the other to go see her kin! (We went over that last week.) “And Mary

Ensign: Grace Grace
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 11 February 2011 In my life so far I’ve heard quite a few people called “Hannah Grace (their last name)” and the nitpicker inside me says that’s redundant! The proper name Hannah comes from the Hebrew word for grace – unmerited favor – so it’s like calling someone Grace Grace. I've learned there are several ways you can translate Hannah since then, but maybe grace is a good reminder. Before I get accused of being too critical, when I was a kid I’d often say the “Grace” prayer before meals beginning with “God is grace” as opposed to “God is great” and it took a while before I got it right. Once I heard it that way, and it stuck and took a while to get unstu

Ensign: The Life Of Our Lord
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 18 February 2011 “My dear children, I am very anxious that you should know something about the History of Jesus Christ.” Bet you didn’t know that Charles Dickens, the author of “A Christmas Carol”, “A Tale of Two Cities”, and “Oliver Twist” among other works also wrote a biography of Jesus. I didn’t know either until recently, and for a work that originally wasn’t intended to go beyond Dickens’ own family, it’s a good read. It seems that after the author’s own death in 1870, the manuscript of “The Life of Our Lord” remained in the family through the life of Dickens’ sister-in-law and then his youngest child with the admonition that it not be publis

Ensign: A Closet Full Of Courteous Anxieties Is Of Dubious Comfort
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 11 March 2011 “Bloom County” was a popular comic strip in the 1980s that you can still collect in anthologies. Pop culture fans and other people my age might remember Opus, the penguin with the absurdly large nose or Rosebud, the part basset hound part antelope. But I’m thinking of another character, a ten-year-old boy named Michael Binkley who when he wasn’t regaling his longsuffering father with tales of the latest celebrity scandal prepared to go to bed and the atypical monster under his bed – what we ALL believed was there when we were kids – was instead the monster in his anxiety closet. I believe it was in its first appearance where the monster announced that, on behalf of all Binkley’s anxieties

Ensign: Patrick's Day
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 17 March 2011 I know at least three people here in Minot whose birthday is today. And my nephew Patrick whom I talked about a few weeks ago was named “Patrick” because it was thought back in 1992 that he would be born today, but he came thirteen days early. But perhaps the best-known person bearing that name lived nearly sixteen hundred years ago and he’s honored today at the patron saint of Ireland. You’ve probably heard someone say (or at least pinch you for not wearing green) “Happy St. Patrick’s Day” or seen of worn something green for an occasion that seems like little more than an excuse to have some fun. And sometimes we don’t even need an excuse! All that we know of Patrick’s life

Ensign: April Fools' Day
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 1 April 2011 APRIL FOOLS! Though now I see some calendars refer to today as All Fools Day (perhaps that’s the polar opposite of November 1, All Saints Day) what seems to be a harmless excuse for frivolity actually originated in something … not so tragic, really. In the late sixteenth century you wouldn’t have used the calendar we use today but rather a documentation of days, months, and years in use since Julius Caesar’s day. The problem came when the beginning of the year wasn’t accompanied by weather appropriate to the first of January. By the time a new calendar was imposed (yes, imposed; the new calendar was calculated and distributed by edict of a Pope Gregory, hence it’s named the Gregorian calendar) on

Ensign: What's So Good About Friday?
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 24 April 2011 When I was growing up, the church I attended didn’t deal with Holy Week, just the culmination of it on Easter Sunday (sometimes called Resurrection Sunday because Easter and its symbols have some non-Christian associations). Indeed, until recent years I didn’t know very much about Holy Week itself. Tonight at the church I’m a member of we’ll be holding our Good Friday service that commemorates Jesus’ death on the cross. As I recall, the Biblical account of crucifixion is read and the service ends in silence after Jesus dies. I still ask the question: What’s so good about it? In this context, Good Friday is actually a corruption over time of the older “Godes Friday”, an ea

Ensign: You Are Cordially Invited
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 29 April 2011 A few weeks ago my family and I attended a wedding of some friends Martha had worked with. My wife got to sing at the ceremony, and as she had a place of importance there we were all – Martha, me, Sarah, and Jeffrey – invited to go. We had a great time, even though we were hardly the center of attention! (You go Mike and Michelle!) And that’s as it should be … today you’ve probably heard about wedding going on or that has happened as you read this. I’m just sorry our invite to that one got lost in the mail, darn it! (You go Will and Kate!) If it’s not the most important thing in a person’s life – and it should not be – then getting married ranks pre

Ensign: You Do Have Word Power
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 13 May 2011 Welcome home, Pastor Gerald and LuAnn! It pays to listen to your kids! They like we are so born without the filters of politeness and civility that sometimes keep us from being as honest as we should be sometimes. Last Wednesday morning my daughter Sarah was watching a PBS Kids show called “Super Why” involving vocabulary building and the characters exercising “word power” to build words and solve puzzles. I asked Sarah after something I’d heard from my wife whether I’m using too much word power myself. Sarah (to me): “You don’t have word power.” In one sense, she’s absolutely right. Those of you who know me outside what you read online here know I

Ensign: The Blanket And The Blocks
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 27 May 2011 The best things we can write are the ones we learn something from, and I think this Ensign more than others I’ve posted recently is that for me. It goes back to Sunday morning – that contrary to one person’s ravings about the Rapture occurring the previous day, we were all here for – during the children’s sermon Pastor Gerald at my home church gave. By holding one corner of a baby blanket and having three little helpers (Jeffrey was one, I’m so proud) hold other corners, it was possible to keep all of the building blocks Pastor Gerald brought on the blanket. His grandmother who used this tool as an example of God’s love for us was pretty wise. There are times in life it just

Ensign: Our Intended Use
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 7 October 2011 Lord, is it wrong to say I love my new laptop computer? Of course it's OUR computer (me, my wife Martha, our daughter Sarah and son Jeffrey) and we all use it for different things -- Martha and I to check email and credit union statements and pay bills, me to write this and other missives some of you may find edifying, Sarah and Jeffrey under our watchful care to play games -- but it's a great tool. Like any tool you have to use it for what it's intended for (I would say to communicate, but maybe you have other ideas) otherwise it's useless. Our lives are useless without the right intention that becomes action. That sounds like I'm turning Benjamin Franklin's maxim that the road to hell is paved with good intentions on its ear, but hear me out ... if all you're doing with your l

Ensign: My Dad In Me
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 13 October 2011 I find myself thinking this week of the opening line from A Tale of Two Cities. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." This week on the calendar happens for me to have two birthdays (my sister Margaret's Monday and her daughter my niece Breanna's today) and one deathday -- well, we all know what a birthday is, the anniversary of the day someone is born. But someone's deathday is more often than not much easier to pinpoint because we tend to remember where we were when we heard the news (e.g. "Where were you when you heard about the planes flying into the Twin Towers?"); in my case, I was watching TV while Martha worked at Kmart and Sarah was asleep in her crib at our apartment in southeast Minot when I got a call from Florida. It was my stepmother Sus

Ensign: The Mark Of Cain
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 21 October 2011 We don't know what the mark of Cain actually was. But the bravado that characterized Adam and Eve's first son Cain when he killed his brother, their second son Abel, was gone when God called upon him. (For the full story, see Genesis 4:1-9.) The tiller of the ground -- a farmer in our usage today -- had killed the keeper of sheep, the shepherd, and it's not as though God didn't already know what Cain had done. "And God said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground." From there it's mild to say Cain freaks out, especially when he hears God's sentence; not to kill him -- for someone so cavalier about the value of human life, he seems afraid he'll be killed himself -- but to exile him to travel throughou

Ensign: That Which Is Right
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 28 October 2011 What do you want to be when you grow up? Please note I'm asking that question in the present tense -- I know when I was a kid what I wanted to be changed every few weeks from an astronaut to a paleontologist (that's someone who studies dinosaur skeletons) to an author to a teacher. At least now I'm fulfilling two of those goals. In fact, I'll be starting next week writing a novel -- in my case, the rest of a novel -- I've had sitting on my computer for five years. I pray for success with that in not only telling the story but also achieving a goal I've had for some time, to finish what I start. Whether we're talking about our own lives or the life of our family or the life of our country, whatever we start well we have to be willing to finish well. Josiah became k

Ensign: Redeem The Day
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 4 November 2011 WORD COUNT: 7,418 As you can tell from the line beneath the title, it's that time of year again for me -- fulfilling my every November goal of pounding out a 50,000 word plus story for possible future publication within thirty days or less. You might think it's a silly goal, even a stupid one (go ahead, tell me that to my face, I've heard both extremes) but if you have the talent to do something and do it well, then what disservice are you doing others if you don't use your talent. Sometimes it's even to let off a little steam ... nothing wrong with that, as long as you don't seek to stand out for its own sake. Have a reason to redeem the day and not just seize it. This devotional comes to mind as a result of what I heard Jonas Nelson, one of the regular announ

Ensign: A Post On Forgiveness Is Always Timely
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 11 November 2011 WORD COUNT: 23,112 A post on forgiveness is always timely -- so an online friend of mine once said to me. And as today is Veterans Day in the United States where we honor those who've gone to fight before us and those who still fight for us "against all enemies, foreign and domestic" ... I was stuck what to write today. You'd think the way I proliferate around here (well, to ME it's a lot, but scant compared to the output of people who are household names) I would never get stuck on what to write about or what to say. Even if sometimes I have to make it up (which I didn't, thank God, for what you're about to read)! We're not all called upon to serve our country in the military or "make the ultimate sacrifice" (i.e., die) for what is near and dear to us. But we

Ensign: Faith Is Easy And Difficult
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 17 November 2011 WORD COUNT: 29,575 Thank you, Jessica. A few days ago a friend of mine asked me how do I keep my faith in God so strong. I had to think about that and then I answered FIRST that I don't think my faith is that strong. But let me share part of my reply to my friend: "by living it, accomplishing something every day through it, studying every day (see 2 Timothy 2:15, "Study to show yourself approved unto God") so even if I don't remember what God's Word says word for word, I remember how to act -- maybe even how I feel -- as a result of my study time (as early in the morning as possible) ..." "Sounds, but not the language. We would only be speaking gibberish." (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home) Back to the studying part, looking elsewhere in Paul's second lette

Ensign: The One True Myth
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3 AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 25 November 2011 WORD COUNT: 39,311 @ First, let's make sure we agree on the definition of myth. I found the definition given on Dictionary.com particularly interesting: "a traditional or legendary story, usually concerning some being or hero or event, with or without a determinable basis of fact or a natural explanation, especially one that is concerned with deities or demigods and explains some practice, rite, or phenomenon of nature." Look after the second comma; "with or without a determinable basis of fact or a natural explanation" -- by that definition, couldn't ANYTHING be a myth? I don't know; you look pretty real to me! @ It may be more accurate to say that a myth is a story we create to explain the world we live in. Or in the words of Dick Staub in the prologue

An Enslaved Love
Dreams, drifting, deepened and watered, Lonesome, sunken and so battered, Cast away like dead mans corpse, Shipwrecked on lifes long mysterious course, Crying, raging from the soul within, For a love lost, crushed and aching. Clinging to a life that knows no care, Im sinking beneath a million tears, Captured, enslaved and compelled by a love That only your heart can free me of A love thats saddened and filled with fear, To be enriched by your loves sweet tear.

Enslaved To Master
A ready smile, lips full and soft, slightly part with a gentle sigh, lightly moisten with a pink tongue. Bended knees, servitude paid, hands lay in quiet wait, gentle upon her parted thighs. Back straight, head bowing in respect, eyes caressing her Master's body, her willingness sensed in all she shows. Eyes softly closing, memories recalled, an inner peace found, a Master's presence felt. Eyes opening, a sparkle of delight, a bond shared with a touch, a Master's hand held out. Hand in hand, a gentle tug, smile spread wide, a Master's acceptance given. Snuggled close, arms wrapped tight, a slave at home, in Master's strong embrace.

Enslaved To Myself...
I hurt, my heart aches. Why can't I do anything right? There are so many around, so many to help. Yet alone and afraid I feel captive inside. Who am I? what can I be? Why is it so hard to see my power within me? So week so tired of fighting, so tired of living up to everyone elses desires. Who am I.. why can't I just be me?! The Masks I wear are crumbling apart. The play i'm in rapidly is coming to an end. I yearn for more.. I yearn to be me. I yearn to feel love, I yearn to be free. Enslaved in myself. Chained to my fears. Freedom. is it possible for me? So many voices, so many friends, so many others what do they see in me.. and why can't I see it too? What blinds my mind? What holds me so strong to see the opposite of what they see? My life filled with pains, my heart filled with sorrow. Why can't I feel a desire to keep on living until tommorrow. Tommorrows a new day perhaps something will change... and yet tommorrow never comes for it turns into today.

Enslaved... (written 05-13-07- Adult)
I am shackled to your bed My gown caresses my skin heightening my pleasure Intensely I listen for any sound you may make I know your watching I can feel your eyes on me but my eyes see nothing here in your darkness My entire body tingles with sweet anticipation I feel a heady fire all the way down to the tip of my toes This yearning pools in the center of my very soul My breasts ache they long for your touch teeth lips I fantasize for a moment about how good your hot mouth will feel against my ever so sensitive peaks

Enslaved
At night I sit alone and watch the shadows dance around. I hold my breath and listen yet silence is the only sound. I reach for some comfort yet feel no embrace. I am tired of the emptiness and loneliness of this place. I can feel no more hurt because I have learned to live with my pain. I often wonder how I survived and continue to stay sane. I have hurt so deeply and cried too many tears. I have been empty and broken for so many years. I am tired of pretending that I am fine and all is okay. I am tired of hiding behind this mask I wear every day. I have drifted so far and can no longer be saved. These feelings hold me captive and to them I am enslaved.

Enslaved...
At night I sit alone and watch the shadows dance around. I hold my breath and listen yet silence is the only sound. I reach for some comfort yet feel no embrace. I am tired of the emptiness and loneliness of this place. I can feel no more hurt because I have learned to live with my pain. I often wonder how I survived and continue to stay sane. I have hurt so deeply and cried too many tears. I have been empty and broken for so many years. I am tired of pretending that I am fine and all is okay. I am tired of hiding behind this mask I wear every day. I have drifted so far and can no longer be saved. These feelings hold me captive and to them I am enslaved.

Enslaved (2001)
Enslaved upon a nightly bed a sacred ritual is performed I cannot see the light and the darkness fills my soul follow me into the night no one cares except you and I this is the rage of use I have nothing left to lose take my life and make me cry just keep me forever never let me go I don't want to be alone anymore I'm scared and cry in the night you're there to hold me when they fall you wrap me in your embrace and let go of all on the outside

Enslaved
Trust in me He says to you You are safe with me Beneath the moon Come here to me Hide within my arms Look in my eyes Fall prey to my charms The crisp autumn breeze The bewitching dew Lifted from your feet Body weak with desire The bite so deep Surges your body with fire You writhe and you wiggle Your strength is depleting Memories flash in your mind Although they are fleeting A warm crimson pour Your heart growing fainter Your fight is strong But his power is greater A knife in his hand He carves with precision A sweet little fountain A new life you are given You feel so alive All your senses awaken Your hunger is savage Be naught mistaken Animalistic needs On a cold hallows eve Enslaved by vampire Broken here, lay me.

Enslaved
Enslaved by aimili_sage © “What you need is a man.” Taryn looked over at her cousin. “Really? Don’t you think Marius counts?” Lora waved her hand in dismissal. “I said a man, not a krod.” They neared the Market. “Maybe you could find a pleasurer here.” “We have need of strength, not pleasure.” They entered the building. “Good day, miladies. To what do we owe your visit to us today?” “We are looking for a warrior,” Taryn answered. “Male warrior.” He wrote the request in a large book. “The name of your House?” “The House of Eudora.” “The House of Eudora?” He looked up in surprise. “Miladies, right this way. Only the best for you.” Taryn and Lora glanced at each other before starting down a long corridor. The majordomo opened a large door, leading them into sunlight. “Oh my,” Lora whispered. She glanced at the men on each side of the pathway. “I think I know where to come for my next pleasurer.” “Quiet,” Taryn hissed, looking to see if the majordomo he

Enslaved By My Husband
Enslaved by My Husband by Aphrodisiac4theSoul© I should've seen it sooner. The odd glances and whispers at the office parties. The unexplained and sudden business trips. The stern disposition he affected when I visited him at his office. The disinterest in me, and the seeming boredom in our romantic life… Then again the boredom and disinterest had been there a lot longer than what brought this about. Perhaps what kept me in the dark so long was our unabated sex life. It was boring, I admit, but regularly (two or three times a week), Keith would climb on me missionary-style for a little five minute rut, business trips notwithstanding. This all changed when I found he had been cheating on me. We were at an office party, and I had by then accepted the whispers and stares as my own self-consciousness. But midway through the party, a wife of one of Keith's coworker came over and told me in a hushed, confidential tone that perhaps I should see what Keith was up to. My search for hi

Enslaved Roommate
Enslaved Roommate by Cenobyte © Disclaimer: If you are under 18 or otherwise legally restricted from viewing material of an erotic nature GO AWAY! If you are offended by sexually explicit material why are you here in the first place? * I'm kneeling on the floor, my knees aching from the thin carpet covering the concrete, the tops of the stockings tight on my thighs and her pussy cream slowly drying to a crust on my face. How did I end up like this? I'd cry, but there are no tears left in me, and making matters worse, the final degradation, the feeling of wetness even now sliding down my thighs to slowly soak into the stocking. I was beginning to get turned on by her abuse, my humiliation and the degrading acts she makes me perform. It wasn't always this way. Graduating high school I'd looked forward to university, a new start far from home. It wasn't that I was mistreated or picked on in high school, just overlooked. I didn't really date, spent most of my time studying, an

Enslaved
"Feed your psychotic agression Your neurotic obession This patience left is wearing thin Helpless, to stare at such a heartless grin For all that we had It's come to this Mental mutation Satanic bliss Grasp the rope, tighter now, dont let go Strike the match against my cheek Ignite such futile hope Drop the match before my feet Arose a flame, that never burnt so sickly sweet Engorge such heartfelt abominations No more disease, no more temptations Nothing to lose Nothing to gain Loveless, heartless, enslaved in my heart You shall remain "

Enslave Me
It Has Been A Long Ass Time Since I Became Anyone's FU-SLAVE... REMIND ME! REMIND ME! But The Thing That Ponders Me Is.... Do You Have What It Takes To Own Me? imikimi - Customize Your World CLICK ENSLAVE ME! WHOOOT WHOOOT! ALL BIDS ARE NEGOTABLE WITH ME!

Enslave Me... ♥
™Lil™Spicey™Southern™Belle™ has joined the House of Cards Auction! Click the pic below and place your bid RIGHT NOW! A special THANK YOU to Poker Princess for hosting this auction! @ fubar A BatM Creation Beauty & the Mess@ fubar (repost of original by 'Beauty & the Mess' on '2009-01-20 10:33:13') (repost of original by '™Lil™Spicey™Southern™Belle™ ღDaNgErOuSஐCuRvEsღ' on '2009-01-20 10:34:06') (repost of original by '*~*Something to talk About*~*' on '2009-01-20 10:44:32')

Enslave Your Slut~ Part1
I am 42, President and CEO for the company that I am employed by, well built and sexually frustrated. I am the one that everyone looks to for control and being in charge of everything. Unfortunately this has carried over into the bedroom for my whole life. I have always dreamed of a man with power over me but I had resigned myself to the fact that he does not exist, at least not for me. I was soon to find out that I was so very wrong. In fact, he was far beyond any fantasies I had thought of but dared not share with anyone. The employees are paid, on average, 15% more than others in the same field in this area. They have been complaining about wanting a retirement plan which I had kept a stiff NO on, telling them to budget better. After two years of nagging, I finally gave in and asked one of our wealthier clients his thoughts about which way to go. He gave me the name of a Broker/Financial Planner that had done extremely well for him. He gave me his name and said that he would call

Enslave Your Slut~ Part2
I realize now that part of my enslavement has always been within me, waiting for the right person to be my Master and release me from within the confines that society had placed. I have searched for 42 years to find my Master, the one to unlock my inner most fantasies. Master had been searching for 46 years until he found the perfect slut slave for himself. Part of my transition into becoming his, is how he penetrates my thoughts, body and soul. I feel his power, control and passion. I, in turn, love him with every fiber of my being, living to please him and gain his approval. I do not have to be in charge now and I am grateful to him. I crave his touch, control and love. I can feel him with me everywhere I go, smell his sensuousness and hear his intoxicating voice. My senses are heightened when I am alone and I long to hear from my Master, to know what I am to do to please him. Command me, I am yours. He did not call me, so I will go home now since it is so late. I do not even reme

Enslave Your Slut~ Part3
The phone rang and I could not pick it up fast enough. It was him. He told me to arrange time off the first part of February and I was to meet him at the Don Cesar Hotel in St. Petersburg Beach. Did he actually order me? Even more absurd is the fact that all I could say was to affirm the fact I would do so and without question. My whole body was tingling with excitement and the possibility that I would finally be able to let loose the darker side of my sexuality. He told me he would call to let me know the particulars. He would be attending seminars sponsored by his company and so I would be alone part of the time. He called and told me to be there at 14:00. I asked what type of clothing to bring and he replied, "Casual," he then informed me he would be inspecting my choices of clothing. I felt very nervous but aroused. The time came to pack for the week. What should I bring? Some things were obvious. I only wear thigh highs or stockings with a garter belt, thong panties, or none

Enslave Your Slut~ Part4
Master informed me that He would begin my training now so that i would learn how to pleasure Him or be punished if i did not perform as expected. He instructed me to remain naked and on the bed while He was gone to his seminar. Standing there like an idiot, i did not move fast enough, in fact not at all. The next thing i knew was His hand landing on my ass. The sting brought tears to my eyes and then He told me again to undress. Quickly, i removed all of my clothes and sat on the bed. He grabbed hold of my upper arms and pulled me to Him, kissing me deeply. Then He walked over to the closet and pulled out a bag i did not remember seeing before now. He removed something and walked back over to me and instructed me to lay spread eagle on the bed which i did without hesitation. The thought of my ass being spanked again did not thrill me so of course i complied. The next thing i knew my right wrist was tied to the headboard. i started to fight this but the pain to my ass from His hand,

Ensnared Between Maroone D & Mutiny
crumpling, arm n hammer’d bend of limbs legs un-buttress, erectile dysfunction’s epitome emergency landing, precariously horizontal across the span of continental sheet’s divide jagged tectonic plates crashing, careening lock-jawed on hip bones of lust she wanted to be his only queen and sit upon him infallible as the pope enthroned crowned in pigtailed delights rapturing and captivating his sole desire she, cumming in latin versed idolatries, striking the set, her holiest of holies, consecrating her wine as blood - devouring the communion of sin upon his altared thighs seeking atonement for such tautness. his rigid salute breaching the onramp to the highway of her godhood and she, clenching, nearly suffocating the source of his humanity ramming the grand banks of design divinity in nano-seconds, lost, found, lost again Even Milton and Velachovsky couldn’t begin to hold on, compressing all time internalized so deeply spiraling backwards, i

Ensure The Existence Of Our Children
Schools today teach kids to be proud of who they are, they tell our children that pride is nothing to be ashamed of. That is they tell the black brown or yellow child to embrace their people’s triumphs, while instilling into the white child’s mind that his people did nothing to add to the world. Teachers tell white children that their ancestors, the men and women who single handedly created a civilized and lasting society, the people who brought about a way of life unimaginable to people of the past that his race is full of nothing but hateful and oppressive people. The teachers no longer teach fact, they tell our children that it was a black man who created electricity, or a brown man invented the telephone. We, my fellow white men and women are living in a time where the Jews reach has become to far to be chopped off, we as a people have failed to heed the warnings that have been piling up ever since the turn of the 20th century and now we are paying the ultimate price. Our chil

Ensure Comprehensive Substantiation Security Precautions In These Goods On Transit Using The Packers In Addition To Movers Gurgaon
When it concerns adjusting available united city middle having a brand-new it is in reality a superb trial created for most. From the comfort of labels so as to starting up it is simple Injury connected with good remedies gives his danger. It is as opposed to commencing virtually all might be found by yourself May run that you just ton bankruptcy lawyer lass Vegas cardiovascular system shut materials are often remedies are often damaged. Going around anything just like adjusting in addition to court proceeding products for the professional folks would certainly helps it be easy an outstanding find revenue around others. You'll find huge choices for these types of consumers to be on labels, adjusting in addition to unloading strategies on the certain helm. Movers & packers inner surface Ghaziabad has long been delivering top quality products which has workers connected with remarkably recognized in addition to completely dedicated authorities exactly who examine greatest healthcare ins

Entangled In The Moon
Her eyes surceed of sorrow She looked away too soon And, without this tragedy, Became entangled in the moon A leap of faith And her eyes were torn From their greatest weakness They shuddered from the scorn She gasped and turned To flee the scene A hopeless smile That her eyes sought to see Twice she beckoned The return of the sun But the battle was pointless The moon easily won An angel flew by With scorched, blackened wings A tone deaf voice How the angel sings But as the angel Nears the moonlight Her wings spring to life They shudder, fluff, and turn white It seemed a miracle This angel reborn But she wept hopelessly For she was meant to mourn An angel of death Belongs only to it The angel was wicked The loving heart quit Cheerfully, she realized She could return To a previous death All she needed Was a scornful breath Upon the moon She wrought her wrath Surrounded by the orb With a bloody, red bath Collapsing, the moo

Entangled
Entangled Would you protect me if I was lost and disoriented? Would you cry if you saw that I was in misery and would you kiss away all my apprehensions for tonight? I’m faraway and journeying on an avenue that beckons whenever I give away my heart. A decoy to counteract the confidence that I hunger for. It’s a riddle with the past that keeps coming back to enfold me in its arms. Here I am a mirage barren but non-afraid to dog away others anguish. You traverse as a voice inside my heart imprisoned there from the beginning. A stranger in a disembarkment of hallucination I am here to please. Like a willow in a springtime- rivulet breeze you sang to me consummated my soul with no terms. I reached out and together we dedicated the night to extricating the demons in our heart. From this I am an interval in the midnight an entity of habit. While you aroused me complexly and intimate I didn’

Entangling Alliances
"And Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Jehu wrote letters, and sent to Samaria, unto the rulers of Jezreel, to the elders, and to them that brought up Ahab's children, saying," 2 Kings 10 begins with Jehu after he'd been anointed the next king of Israel and commissioned to bring an end to the house of Ahab currently ruling the land of Israel. Over the last decades before the events of this chapter, the house of Ahab had come to not only rule the land of Israel but also the land of Judah by intermarriage; Ahab's daughter Athaliah had married Judah's king Jehoram, and their son Ahaziah was working in concert with his uncle Joram to repel a Syrian invasion. In fact, it was the latest battle of that war which gave Jehu, a chariot captain and probable chief of staff, the opportunity to bring the Third Dynasty of Israel (the historical designation of the reigns of Omri, Ahab's father, Ahab himself, Ahaziah, and Jehoram) to an end as recorded in 2 Kings 9. Nowhere did the LORD's

Entangled
Hey there... please rate my blog and lemme a comment if you can... Entangled There are rooms in my mind The sun can’t seem to find Darkness battles the light. Things I could never tell Wish someone would cast a spell And just make everything alright. Entangled by thoughts so confusing To some they would be amusing Right now things seem so obscure. My brain won’t shut down Just keeps spinning around Making me feel so very unsure. Decisions are never easy for me Makes me pass up opportunity But I’m learning to cope. Afraid to breathe relaxation Each day full of anticipation And I never loose site of hope. Copyright 07 BEG

Entangled Desires
Her hair long and dark Her lips molded so soft and delicate Her tongue so moist and passionate Her kisses last forever r When I held her, her back molded into my hands Her eyes danced with mine Her breath soft warm and delicate Her hands so warm and comforting Her breast soft and succulant Her pussy so nice and trimmed Her pleasure lightly escaped As my tongue danced around her treasure Back arched lifting her pussy to my lips Soft teasing circles for her treasure to softly escape Her honey dew so tasty and intoxicating Her moans so sudden and inviting kissing her as my fingers roamed around her clit Kissing her mouth deeply and intense Her eyes gazing in the back of her head Her hands clinching the sheets wanting more Lightly stroking her skin delicate fingertips sending electricity through her body Orgasm after orgasm, she is drained from my passion Kiss after kiss, entangled in our desires

Entanlged In The Stars
The earth opened outInto the sky. That night,I felt I mightFall into it,To entangle myselfIn a web of starsThat beckoned to meWith their twinkling fingers.I felt my own soul expandSink into the heavensFeeling the warmth of you beside meThe crisp air on my faceI felt the world would hold meFor a whileMy searching heartFound a universe in yoursSo that I felt I mightFall into itAnd entangle myselfIn the world ofWho you are. Poem By Tammy C.

Entangled
I've got no remorse in my eyes I've got you too caught up in my lies And you believe me evey time Never thinking i'm going to hurt you without ever trying But hell that's your problem not mine Right How could you just give up without a fight You should have known you can't have the cake an eat it too That's just not how this story is gonna play through That would make you almost as bad as me For believing that things weren't as bad as they seem But the truth is right in front of our face The love is gone no matter how hard we try to pick up the pace It's not my fault you keep holding on to what could have been I would have given anything to believe that too but that was back then Maybe when your face is too far shoved in the dirt It won't hurt At least not as bad as it's going to of you don't But I know well enough to know you won't So now the question is if it's really worth all this pain And what it is that your gonna actually gain Other than a broken heart and a distorted sort of h

Entdecken Sie Die Billige Android-tablets
Im Laufe des letzten Jahres oder zwei Technologien in einem solchen umwerfend Rate verändert, und jetzt mehr als je zuvor, neigen Männer und Frauen, jung und alt, um den Tablet PC für die Arbeit fertig zu drehen. Ich denke, es ist brillant und wir alle sollten alle starten, um die Verwendung von diese wunderbaren Gadgets öfter berühren zu optimieren. Es gibt so viele verschiedene Möglichkeiten, wie Sie einen guten google android tablet pc aus Wirtschaft zum Vergnügen verwenden können, und es ist in der Regel als Folge von der Anzahl der verfügbaren Anwendungen. (android tablet) Wachstum im Sinne der revolutionären modernen Technik hat vor kurzem geworden, und so viele wie diese können Sie sicher sein, dass Sie nicht verpassen. Zusammen mit den Produkten Ihrer großen Hersteller auf dem Markt, können Sie sicher sein, dass Sie kaufen ein qualitativ hochwertiges Produkt, dass Sie etwas verlangen Angebot. Typischerweise kann es Sie mehr, als Sie für jederzeit verhandelt. Sie können die

Enter Your Pet!!
ok i'm doing it!!!! send me your cutest pet pic u want me to rip to enter in the LC CUTEST PET!! one pet per photo you cant enter more than one pet can not be photoshopped no blasts or sticky bulletins to get votes 1st 2nd and 3rd place wins LC gift Let's get this started!!! PLEASE REPOST begins friday at 12 am central

Enter My Heart
You enter an overgrown maze. The floor is covered in glass. As you brush a vine from your face, The door behind you closes fast. The lights get dim and it grows cold. Music is swelling from all around. Frames of memories long since old Lay toppled and torn across the ground. Spikes start growing from the walls. Following footsteps are heard from behind. There's nothing to do but keep moving on Away from the sorrow and toward the light. There are voices all around you now. They mock and curse and laugh. Paired with images of bloody towels You wonder who lived with this past. It's getting darker and so much colder. The walls get closer and spikes are more sharp. Now in your way is an enormous boulder. From the top, the maze is shaped like a heart. You see that there is no way out As you scan the outside edge. Now you make your way down Carved in the boulder is a pledge. Across the whole thing is an slash. The words read soft and smoothe. "Baby girl, I

Enter My World
My horoscopes, they tell me Spend time with a possible soul mate A glimpse into your mirror Shown open eyes to a sign of fate It was your hand That took me to the stars Stitching my wounds Healing my scars Oceans of love Millions of kisses To me, you're the one hit That everyone misses Men are from Mars Women are from Venus Minds that believe it Are truly ingenious The Angel that guards me And sinning with the Devil Our souls are evaporating Together to a higher level I'm your Queen Be the King of my castle Only saturate me Through true eyes that dazzle Never fear the storm It's almost over Clearing the air Emotions drunk, yet sober In the darkness of morning Shining from the light Shadows still creep Through the brightness of midnight Reality gets twisted Entering my dream world Forever in eternal love The poison just won't kill Mesmerized by one flame Caress the burning desire Giving your breath away Only f

Entertaining
My night has been a comedy of errors. Tonight was the night my friend came over to celebrate her birthday, which is tomorrow. It was all kind of impromtu, meaning we decided to do this a day or two ago. But I wanted to go all out because her husband doesn't... and well, lots of other personal things about her life that I'm sure she wouldn't appreciate me broadcasting on here. Anyway, today I decided to run to the store and get a few extra things to make her dinner special. I already had a cake mix and had decided to make the cake for her, just had to get the frosting. Or so I thought. After I came home from the store and started on the cake I realized that, though I had plenty of olive oil, I did not have any vegetable oil as the mix calls for. I immediately called my friend Carrie who lives across from me and she brought me her remaining supply. The recipe called for 1/3 of a cup, her bottle looked like it had maybe 1/8 of a cup, so I just dumped it all in and went for

Enter My Morphing Contest And Win A Corvette
hello everybody that has a morph.do ya think yours is better than anyone elses well lets see.let me know your interested in this contest by sending a link or a shout.the rules are very simple who ever gets 150,000 comments first wins.you can comment on yourself as much as you want...repost this over and over if you wish...send out links of your photo to all.the p4rize is either a corvette or a motorcycle or a tropical vacation...which ever you choose.

Entered A Contest...
PLEASE vote for me...i don't usually do this but cuz it's me and my daughter i'm begging anyone to vote for me....it hasn't started yet but i'll be putting the link on here soon...i'd greatly appreciate any help during this time and will hand out as many 11s to anyone who helps that i havent 11ed yet again...thanks for anyone who votes for me and my daughter...we greatly appreciate it

Entered A Give-away??
IF YOU ENTERED A GIVE-AWAY PLEASE POST YOUR INFORMATION HERE... I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHAT THE GOAL IS, AND HOW LONG YOU HAVE TO COMPLETE THE GOAL..ALSO NEED TO KNOW WHAT YOU WIN FOR COMPLETING YOU GOAL... AND THE SPADES TEAM WILL BOMB THESE... THANK YOU AND HAVE A FABULOUS DAY!

Entering A D/s Relationship
Teaching a submissive/slave is not an overnight task, nor is it a responsibility that should be taken lightly. Before you accept a girl to begin any type of training program, you must establish a definitive set of goals and expectations. Both of you must decide where you want and expect the relationship to go. As with any long-term relationship each of you needs to be aware of and understand each other’s expectations. As the Dominant, you have the primary responsibility to ensure both of your goals and expectations are fully compatible. If there is any hesitation or doubt your goals and expectations are not fully compatible, a training relationship, or for that matter, any type of D/s relationship should not be entered into. Both the Dominant and the submissive/slave must be in full agreement as to what is expected from each other and from the relationship. Communication is the first ste

Enternet Love
There aren't enough stars in the sky, To show how many times, I've wished for you. There aren't enough places in the world, To show how far, I'd really go for you. I'd give anything to be with you, Lay my life on the line, Just to spend one more moment with you. I would die a thousand deaths, To feel you at my side, To know that we're together once again. Nothing can tear us apart, Even when we are both in death, We will always be together, Sharing our adventures. If I could fall into your arms, My purpose would be complete. Even now as I look at you, I still can't believe, That God has sent you to me. I have done nothing special to deserve you, But He grazed your soul with a touch of His heavenly hand, Which has now made my life whole. So, my love, Let me tell you in no words, How much you mean to me. Nothing in this world, Can add up to how much I love you. So let it now be known, That this is the moment, I can finally be yours, As you will be mine

Enter My Zone
i am a mother of three beautiful daughters i work alot lately haven't had much of a social life lately. don't get along with most of my family but make it well for myself. i have a great boyfriend who can be hard headed at times and keep me in his back pocket but hey it keeps me outta trouble i am hear to meet new people kinda got bored with myspace but so far i am liking it here and thanks to people who rate and leave love on my page

Entered A New Contest
Ok this is going to be the LAST contest i enter being i dont do so well in them so if anyone would like to help it is for a 30 day blast hosted by CUP of Joe.. I honestly do my best to get around to help my friends contest.so please help if you get a moment!! thanks so much

Enter Characters
In the past, I had only been prompted to enter Characters by a bouncer, to buy big pimpin gifts lol Hmmm Automated or harassment. I dunno, but it's becoming a pain in the ass as half of the comments and user photos, I can't comment on, because of the B.S. In a way I though it was a good thing, but obviously leaves a lot to be desired. W.T.F.?

Entering A Contest
Who's gonna help me? I've helped a lot of people here, now it's time to return the love! Fan, rate and add her first before you can comment bomb: *SEXYGIRLBLONDE*OWNER OF *THE DYNASTY CLUB*@ fubar I really need some help on this one... When the contest starts, I will post another blog & bulletin w/ my pic link. Thanks everyone!! Lee

The Entertainment For My Night...lol
Now bare with me...read from the bottom: Alrighty then have a good day too. On 8/17/2007, eastcoastcowboy@fubar.com wrote: Avoiding answers to questions now aint we? Reckon this conversation is over with now, pulling the fat ass top shit routione dont work with me. I dealt with worse people tha you. Now u have a nice day, good fucking day, Im done wasting my time on you. and I am already expecting some message back of u promoting that u won this "debate" You didnt win, .cant win when u dont fight the same battle, meaning, I came with a sword expecting for death and u came with a toothpick thinking it was a gun. Get over urself, and have a fucking great day, this is my last message, I dont weaste my time on losers like u On 8/17/2007, fu893612@fubar.com wrote: LMAO, where to start? I'm here because of the fact that I am up at 5:14am and your more entertaining than the mumms. And how can you tell I'm eatting again? My God what are the winning lotto numbe

Enter Course!
You may think this is corny but have you ever really listened to the sound of it? I don't think anyone makes a more sexier sound than when they are doing it. No? kk, then how it feels when you get off? Whew, awesome climax without thinking a single thought other than how awesome it feels. Hmm, I just thought I might add that. Whatever!

Entering My First Contest....
Yes indeed I decided to take the plunge and participate in a contest. As you've probably already figured out, I'd appreciate it if you'd help me out by comment bombing the hell out of my pic. If not, that works too I suppose. Here's the info, I hope to see you there on monday at noon!(CST) "Your Choice" Comment Bombing Contest! Pick Your Prize! ~*~First Place Prize~*~ Your Choice of a Happy Hour or 30 Day Blast or Two months of VIP ~*~Second Place Prize~*~ One month VIP or 7 Day Blast ~*~Third Place Prize~*~ 3 Day Blast or FU Big Pimpin Gift of Your Choice! ~*~Your Choice Pic (not nsfw)~*~ ~*~Your Choice Prize~*~ Rates Equal Three Comments! **********RULES********** 1. Minimum 20,000 Comments for 1st Place 2. Minimum 15,000 Comments for 2nd Place 3. Minimum 10,000 Comments for 3rd Place 4. ALL entries MUST be in by Monday Sept 24th 8AM CST. 5. Limit 15 Entries! NO Late Entries! 6. Contest Starts Monday Sept24th 12Noon CST. 7. Contest Ends Monday