Friday, October 24, 2008

Fall in South Central Ohio







This past Sunday, the family took a Fall sight seeing car ride, which we do anually. This year the colors weren't near as vibrant as some years. The countryside surrounding where I live is gorgeous- pastoral, rolling hills, neat white farmhouses, dilapidated old barns, wooded gravel roads. Here's a few photos I snapped along the way.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

I'm sure many of you have read this. I received it via e-mail and I personally think Ben Stein is right on regarding this subject ( I don't watch him much, so I may disagree with him on many other things)

If you sincerely study Biblical prophecy, you can have no doubt that there is a God and He is the God of the bible. EVERY prophecy from the bible has come to fruition and we are seeing a staggering amount of bible prophecy being fulfilled in our generation.

Our Constitution was founded with the assumption that our society would be by and large a religious society based on Biblical morals and values. The writers of our constitution knew that without moral leadership and these basic moral values as the background of our society, that our society would fail.

The problems we are seeing today in the US are precisely because we have turned our backs on these moral principles and worst of all shut God out of every public venue. God will not be mocked. We have enjoyed over 200 years of God's grace and protection from evil. I believe He is removing His protection from a country that has turned against Him. The signs are all around us.



The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.

My confession:
I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees.. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it It shows that we are all brothers and sisters
celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu . If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to..
In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like this happen?' (regarding Katrina) Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?'

In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves. Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Friday, October 17, 2008

My Autumn Home











To see more autumn homes go here:
http://deenasstory.blogspot.com/2008/09/autumn-open-house.html