Looters II

I don't know what the answer is for the looting problem. What do the business owners do? What should they do? How can someone protect their own property against these looters, these people who will take advantage of a lawless situation.

In my last post I was reacting with my emotions and I think Steve misunderstood me, but none the matter, he is right. I was saying to shoot those looters! Not kill, just shoot 'em! Stop them from taking advantage of their fellow man! Stop them from stealing! It is frightening to imagine those people, especially the criminal element, armed with the guns they looted, stealing and being their own law.

There is video of guards looting the Walmart!

Law enforcement is in rescue mode, trying to save lives! They shouldn't have to deal with looters too!

It is all so sad and it really angers me!

Maybe with all this video being shot, in 6 months all the pictures of the looters faces should be plastered throughout America for them to be seen and turned in and prosecuted and held accountable for their despicable behavior! What is sad is that I don't think that the looters would even be ashamed of their behavior. In fact, some are proud! I heard a quote today that I paraphrase here..."it's our chance to get back at society for the oppression."

They must be immune to shame to resort to kicking their neighbors when they are down!

No, I do not really believe we should shoot the looters, but I do believe people have the right to protect their person and their property.

There is a lot of good being done during these times. People are practicing selflessness and giving. There is compassion abound and American's will support those devastated by this disaster. The cities will rebuild. America is resilient and it's people are strong!

God forgive me for posting in anger and emotion. We should pray for these looters because the fact that they loot is a symptom of a much deeper and more important personal and spiritual problem.

Looters

Place signs throughout the disaster area left by Katrina that say "Looters will be shot on sight" and then enforce it.

As if the natural disaster is not bad enough, leave it to humans to worsen it.

I'm so disturbed by the reports of looting in New Orleans, for example, Walmart's gun section being cleared out. A nurse reported looking out the window where organ transplant patients are recovering and seeing "bands of people carrying guns". A police officer was shot in the head yesterday, and thankfully, is expected to recover. What is wrong with people? This is such a horrifying circumstance.

You can read what other bloggers are saying about the looting from Blogdigger.

Jury Duty - Some Humor

Well, the bad news is I went in thinking that today was my last obligatory day to serve on the jury, but one more day was added. Ugh. It is such an inconvenience to rearrange life for one week a month for six months, and then rarely actually serve. I've gone in a total of four times now. Twice I was randomly called to be on the jury, but later excused for whatever reason. One time the jury was set and I was not needed. Today all the defendants pleaded guilty or didn't show and I was sent home, with one more day to possibly serve on Wednesday.

The Honorable Judge Clayton Peeples was pretty funny today. One defendant did not appear for his court date and the attorney representing him explained that letters had been sent to him, his phone number was not good and that he "lives in a verrrry baaaad neighborhood in Jackson so I did not send my investigator out." The judge said "well, his neighborhood will be worse tomorrow." The entire court room busted out in laughter! LOL

I liked that too! LOL

Blogging Light

Well, life hasn't been very exciting. Car repairs, jury duty, work, church...same old, same old.

Shoutfest is Saturday! YES! I've been looking forward to that for months!

In the meantime, my mom got me addicted to THIS! So, if blogging remains light, it's her fault!

The Great Raid

Katie and I went to see The Great Raid today. Wonderful movie and after seeing that, one has a better understanding of what a hero is and why America should be proud of its servicemen and women.

Thank you to all those who serve!

Butterfly Release

I'm up early to go to the Butterfly Release sponsored by WRAP, the Wo/Mens Resource and Rape Assistance Program. This will be the third annual release. We are going to celebrate those people who have emerged from a life of dysfunction and abuse to freedom from those bondages.

The Butterflies are released to "symbolize the flight or rebirth of survivors of domestic and sexual assault as they move into a new phase in life."

Katie is a butterfly and considers herself beauty from ashes. She has painted "self-portraits" and you can see them here. She is also currently writing down her testimony so I can finally post it on her testimony page. Yay!

Help Noah

Noah is my cousin Zach's son. He is 6 and was recently diagnosed with Brain Stem Glioma.




Obviously this is a very difficult time for his family and prayers are appreciated.

Help Noah is a website established to "provide an interactive "meal planner" so that people will be able to look at a calendar to see when they could provide a meal to the family. Also, there will be information about how to donate to a special fund to help the family, as well as upcoming fundraising events."

If you can help in anyway, with prayers, words of encouragement, or financially, please Help Noah.

A Trip to the E.R.

Because Katie's car is broken down and it will cost $451 to get it fixed, (hopefully no more than that, which depends if the valves were bent when the timing belt snapped), I drove Katie to work. I spent a couple of hours at the mall working on a special project that I may share later. Then, I picked Katie up for lunch and we stopped to eat at Sonic drive-in for a quick bite.

While sitting there eating, Tif called with news that Justin was injured while on his bike and the neighbor was taking him to the ER. From Tif's description of the incident, we knew it wasn't anything life threatening, but Justin had a bad cut on his toe.

We have since had him in the ER and he will be fine. He was riding his bicycle wearing his flip-flops. NOT a good idea, and I must say that I am a staunch promoter of always wearing shoes while riding bikes, but he wasn't wearing anything protective on his feet. He stopped somewhere and was picking up a friend. The bike was knocked off balance as he stood next to it and when it fell, the end of the handle bar fell directly onto the toenail of his big toe. It basically shattered the nail. It was a bloody mess.

Below is an audio post of Katie's and my trip from Sonic in Jackson, TN, to the Humboldt General Hospital Emergency Room. Not too many people for one, post audio blogs on the way to ER and number two, they normally aren't cracking jokes about it either!

With True Friends, You Don't Even Have to Ask

Katie went on a trip to Arkansas to visit her mom and her family this weekend. I let her take my jeep, as her car has some miles run up on it and the Jeep is just a bit more comfortable on long trips. (I think she wants it for the CD player! lol)

As I drove home tonight I was cruisin', listening to the radio, and suddenly the car stopped running. It just shut off and all the dash lights came on "check engine" - "battery" - "airbag" - "seatbelt". Weird. I started losing speed and attempted to restart the car, but no go.

I happened to be very near home and in the neighborhood of my church, so I coasted into the bank parking lot across the street from my church. I sat there for a few minutes attempting to restart the car, but it wasn't going to start. I gave up and started walking toward my friend Carol's house.

I arrived there in just a few short minutes and asked for a ride. He ex-husband was there and came out to look at the car in the bank parking lot, but he was of no help, although he tried. Carol drove me home and asked me if I was working tomorrow. I said "yep, at 8am" and she immediately said "so, what time do I have to pick you up to be there in time". I smiled and told her 7:30. Then she made arrangements to pick me up from work, then get me to and from work again on Sunday.

I was as appreciative as I could be and told her she eliminated much stress and I was thankful. She said "you would do the same for me" and I said "that's true."

So, with true friends, you don't even have to ask for help...they just automatically offer it.

Now, my next issue is getting the car fixed. But, I'll worry about that tomorrow.

Transparency

The Christian is to live a life that is transparent. This means that the Christian should live their life out in the open, hiding nothing. We should go about our work and play in plain view of anyone, and avoid every kind of evil.

I Thessalonians 4:11-12 "Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody."

I Thessalonians 2:4b "... we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts."

We are to live in the Light, and when we live transparent lives, all becomes seen in the Light. The definition of transparent is "easily seen through", "free from guile", "candid or open". God sees all that we do, everything. Character counts to a Christian because integrity and character is built by what we do "in the dark", when men can't see. If we are always conscious of the fact that God is watching, and that we will one day give an account for all that we do. "Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight."(Romans 14:12, Hebrews 4:13)


This does not mean however, that we are not to have private moments at all. Of course a Christian has intimate details of life that are his/her own business, but those details are always to be within the confines of Biblical teachings, therefore approved by God. We need not point out the aspects of our life either, we should "make it our ambition to lead a quiet life...", because a life that is in the light will be seen naturally.

What it does mean is that we are to be ultimately accountable to God for our behaviors. Christians are instructed to "submit to one another", "confess your sins to each other and pray for each other" and "do not lie to each other". "We who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others." Because we, Christians, form one body, it is important that we are transparent with our lives, so that we can all "encourage one another and build each other up". If one of us is involved in sin, the entire body will be affected. One day our pastor gave a powerful visual of just this thing when he used this example: "Let's say I chose to sin and commit adultery"...then he asked his wife to stand up because obviously she would be the first affected by his sin. After she stood, he had his children stand up, because they, too, would be affected. Then he had members of the leadership of the church stand, one by one. Then the friends of his family stood. Then the family of the people already standing were asked to stand. By the end of the illustration, the entire body of believers in that gathering place were standing.  Every one of us would be affected in one way or another by his sin.

Christians are to hold one another accountable. When we see a sister or brother falling into sin, we are to go to them and lovingly try to help them to see the error of their ways, and point them toward Christ who is the only One Who can fully restore them to the faith. If we say nothing, and we allow the sister/brother to stumble, unchallenged, we will be held accountable by God for that inaction. God gave us a voice to use!

Ephesians 4:25 "Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body."

Christians who are leading transparent lives will invite intervention by another believer. By that I mean that the Christian who is transparent makes it obvious that they are sincerely trying to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord. An observer would feel comfortable (maybe not the right word because the circumstance would be difficult, but they definitely would not feel like "I'm not getting involved, it's none of my business") approaching the transparent Christian with words of caution or accountability.

Do not hide in the dark!

Ephesians 5:8-14 "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible.

Be transparent! "...let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."

I don't believe living transparently means telling every person you come in contact with about each and every aspect or detail of your life. To me it is just what I do...I go to work I work hard. I uphold a certain standard of behavior, the same as I do at home. Different aspects of my personality may be prominent at work, as opposed to home life, or socially, but the foundational character that I have is the same. I'm a honest person, so at work I am trusted, as I am at home. I had a mentor/counselor tell me once that she sees me as someone who is the same at work, home, and at church. That to me, is part of being transparent, because people will see me as the same person in all environments.

Am I always successful at being transparent? No...but it is what I strive to be. Having an accountability partner really helps in that department, too. Friends who can point out areas of my life that need to be exposed and dealt with sharpen me like iron, they are "iron sharpening iron." It's scary, but very necessary.

Transparency is necessary in the life of a God-fearing Christian. "If you walk in His light, the lost will see Him more."

Why?

Why is it that after I program my work phone number into my phone, that I end up pressing almost as many numbers to find the number in the "phonebook"? It's just as easy to dial the number! Quicker too!

It bloggles the mind!