Where's Waldo? The popular find-the-strange-guy images of many years ago.

So, in case you haven't noticed, I have not been around for a while. Working hard on my Executive MBA, CFA (like a master's program in financial analysis), looking for a job, starting a new job, business projects, and many family related things. At some point, I'll be back...probably should have said something much earlier, like at the BEGINNING of the year, instead of the end....

dtc

We live not in the Land of the Living, but in the Land of the Dead and Dying; we prepare ourselves in this land to enter, one day, into the Land of the Living. Then, the "veil shall be taken away." (see 2 Cor 3.16)

Three years ago next Monday, Ashley and I lost a friend to leukemia and three more of our friends lost their wife and mother. Death at any age is hard, but especially those deaths that seem to come "early" in our human reckoning. With no eternal perspective, it all seems so unfair; it is only with eternity in our hearts and minds that any sense can be made of it.

One of our friends who lost her momma we have known since she was six or seven (in her early 20's now!). I always remember her as the Little Princess and I share in her grief at losing her mother. Reading her blog this morning about her grief and dwelling on it brought to memory a story in our family, from the community surrounding Dellmont.

Years before I was born, my great-grandmother (father's mother's side) passed away. In the last minutes of her life on Earth she suddenly became all agitated and excited, in a good way. One of her children, at her bedside, asked her, “What’s the matter, Momma?” Great-grandmother replied with amazement, “They’re coming! I see them! My family has just come into the room to get me!” She stood juxtaposed between this life and the next, the veil between the two began to lift, and she saw her family who had gone on before her coming to get her and take her home!

It was a wondrous experience and I can only imagine her amazement as the silver cord was cut and the golden bowl broken, suddenly leaving this world to go on to the Land of the Living in the next, surrounded by those she had loved in this life!

To my friend whose mother died three years ago, I would say that I believe your Momma knew the time of her passing. And, like my great-grandmother, at the end of your life I believe you just may see her leading the way to come get you, as the veil between this world and the next rends before you!

A grid of the 16 personality types from the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Wouldn't you know it, I scored the rarest form...

A lot of interest the past 15 years or so has arisen in personality types. In the late 90's, Ashley and I took a love languages test (very helpful) and last year I took my DISC profile (I'm high D, low I, a "Conducting Implementor"). Yesterday, for one of my EMBA classes, I had to take a plethora of personality tests.

So, one of them was an MBTI test, this particular one free from HumanMetrics. It pegged me as an INFJ, the rarest personality, "afflicting" only 1.5% of Americans. For those of you real interested, I tested as: I = 22%, N = 88%, F = 12%, J = 22%. Curiously, I went back and changed my answers on a few questions that I tended to have a mixed view on. In an extreme case I tested as an ENFJ, with my I scores E= 11% and N = 50%. In all cases, my F and J scores were the same. But I am quite conclusively, an INFJ.

One of the unfortunate things was a listing of US Presidents that were INFJ's--van Buren and Carter, both poorly performed Presidents I've learned a lot about what NOT to studying them. However, also on the famous people list were Chaucer, Goethe, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, and Mel Gibson, a list I'm not ashamed to be a part of.

As with all personality types, there is a lot of literature on the web. Some of the ones I was referred to:

• HumanMetrics' MBTI profile test
• Wikipedia for Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
• Wikipedia of INFJ
• Typelogic's entry of INFJ
• PersonalityPage for INFJ
• PersonalityPage for INFJ relationships
• HumanMetrics vocation page for INFJ

With all the literature now out there on personalities, we should be able to understand ourselves better with out a Herculean effort. In so doing, we should also be able to understand the diversity of personalities God has made and relate better to those around us. I plan to have my wife and my teenagers take the test so I may be better able to relate with them. Isn't that just like an INFJ????

Buzzword Bingo: A game for every conference call!!

Click HERE for your personalized, Buzzword Bingo card!

As mentioned in my last two blogs, I have been cleaning off some of my old websites and, for my own amusement, have wanted to hold on to a few of the webpage memories on that site (going back to my main purpose for this blog). The link below takes you to a page I created for playing Buzzword Bingo. It was adapted from an email I once received, years ago, then liked it so much decided I could play it with other folks on conference calls and created a randomized, suped-up version for the web!

It basically goes like this: Before your next conference call where you expect the language of Corporate-ese to be spoken, print out a Buzzword Bingo card. As you hear each word, mark it on your list. When you get five in a row, yell, "No way!!", or any other favorite expression of disbelief. The first one to yell it out wins.....oh, and the secret, is you don't let the main speaker on the call know you are all playing the game!!!! See Wikipedia for more information.

There are actually many other versions of this card out there on internet, but I liked mine because it is done by a really neat JavaScript for randomization! Also, you can add your own words down below and create a random Buzzword Bingo card just for your industry--automotive, medical, church, you name it!!!!! Have fun!

Click HERE for your personalized, Buzzword Bingo card!

As I mentioned yesterday, I have been cleaning off some files from an old website of mine but, not wanting to lose some, have decided to post certain selections on my blog for posterity sake (remembering the purpose of my blog to be partly for my own memories <grin>).

After college, Ashley and I were married and moved to Pleasanton, California, where we lived for sixteen years until we were repatriated to Alabama in December, 2006. For most of that time, we were members of Harvest Valley Christian Church. The church was (is) special in many ways, and one of the unique traits, even for California, was its cultural and ethnic diversity. Many, many nationalities and cultures were represented in its 200-300 member congregation.

One of my memories of the church was that, in the main sanctuary, they hung flags from nations around the world. Not every nation, of course, because there just wasn't enough room. But it was a constant reminder that, in heaven, all nations will be there before the King of Kings.

Being the type of person I was, I was always curous as to which flags had been randomly chosen (for the most part) to be hung up. So, one day, I spent time with my atlas and CIA World Factbook to figure it out. I made a webpage at the time, primarily for my interest. I found it yesterday, and here it is:

 (btw, the layout was designed for a standalone page so it is going to look a little funky being placed inside this blog....oh well!  So, scroll down....)

Flags of Harvest Valley
Stage Right		Stage Left
Vietnam 1 South Korea 2 New Zealand 3 South Africa 4 Japan 5 Morocco 6 Ukraine 7 Austira 8 Mexico 9 Brazil 10 Cuba 11 United Arab Emirates 12 Chad 13 Canada 14 Unknown 15 Central African Republic 16 Israel 17 The Netherlands 18 Argentina 19 Oman 20 Finland 21 Bhután 22 Venezuela 23 Angola 24 Bahrain 25 Germany 26 Thailand 27 Jordan 28 Yemen 29 Iraq 30 Tunisia 31 Mozambique 32 Iran 33 Mongolia 34 Bolivia 35		Hungary 1 China 2 Egypt 3 Maldives 4 Greece 5 Bangladesh 6 Costa Rica 7 Armenia 8 Italy 9 Malaysia 10 Latvia 11 Peru 12 Russia 13 Algeria 14 Indonesia 15 Portugal 16 Philippines 17 Singapore 18 Kazakhstan 19 Burundi 20 Chad 21 Zambia 22 Paraquay 23 Sudan 24 Brunei 25 Turkey 26 Afghanistan 27 South Yemen 28 Libya 29 Botswana 30 Panama 31 Armenia 32 Pakistan 33 Syria 34 India 35 Zaire 36 Tanzania 37 Somalia 38

Flags of Great Britain and Ireland...a tribute to Pat.

As I mentioned in my first blog (here), the purpose of my blog is primarily a vehicle for myself, my thoughts, and memories--kind of a memory bank. Anyway, one thing I have been keeping up with for MANY years is the archival page for the "Patisms" website. Like most things, you "had to be there" to understand the humor.

As I am moving things off one of my old websites, I could not bear to lose this wonderful memory of one of my good friends "way back when". The basic story line is that, when people who worked with Pat would hear him spout off with another, unique PatIsm (that he always got away with, being a foreigner and all), there was a website where his coworkers could go and post what they heard him say......

So, here it is: the tribute page to Pat and his Patisms!

The PatIsms Home Page

--troy--

ps--I have no copyright information; if you come accross any of it, let me know so I can cite it.

A Texas Sheriff found out in the late '80's (or early 90's) that when you actively seek to make women conceal carry permit owners, violent crimes against women significantly drop.  --dtc

I love her pink gun and the fact that she has been properly trained to shoot with both eyes open, take available cover, and hold the gun properly.  Way to go whoever trained her!!  --dtc 

 I choose the Glock.  What do you want to use protect your daughter or wife?  --dtc

I believe she is compensating just fine.  Though I also hope she is carrying a concealed handgun, too!  --dtc 

I can just hear her wishing the trouble maker "Merry Christmas!!" --dtc 

Let's remember this.  When free speech failed, force was needed.  And just think, taxation was well below 10% then.  What is it today?  --dtc

I don't know who this fair-skinned bride is but she sure is someone to ride the river with.  See how she is holding her right hand on the trigger?  She has been trained well by someone who knows how to keep the rifle at the ready.  I love the fact that she has the suppressed version, too.  Her rifle speaks firmly but quietly; I imagine she does, too!  --dtc

 True diversity would also include wood stocks.... --dtc

I **SO** wish  I could put a sign like this in my yard!

Yes, we know that gun-toting criminals are law abiding citizens.  Glad to know they'll check their guns at the door.... --dtc 

Strategically placed HE.  Brings a grin to my face.  What else can I say?  --dtc

Hey, this is enough for me, but what about the rest of the family????  --dtc 

I wonder if this is true?  I will never think of the 9mm parabellum the same way again.  Pax Vobiscum bad guys!  --dtc 

Peace can only be achieved through superior force. Again, Pax Vobiscum, bad guys! --dtc 

Hey, can I use this in place of "Please, sir, if you would be so kind as to put that knife down????"  It may be a bit too impolite, though, and my Southern manners and all....  --dtc

I've shot a single-shot version of the .50 BMG...all I can think of while looking at this picture is how is that skinny guy going to remain standing after he pulls the trigger?  Oh, yeah, that's right....  He'll only need the first shot.  --dtc 

Let's hope this never happens again and that we can have a successful, peaceful revolution through the ballot box and that our nation returns to the Biblical values of private property ownership and liberty that made her great.  --dtc

Great job to whoever assembled these pictures! I hope you enjoyed these as much as this Constitutional Conservative did! And that it made you think.....

--dtc--

Valentines Day

Ashley has a tradition of decorating a table for each holiday, Valentine's Day being one of them.

The Table.

Two of my wonderful girls!

Random

A random picture of Lizzie and her friend Ben making goofy faces....

Willow Point, Lake Martin (March)

Some dear friends of ours let us stay at their lakehouse over Spring Break. It was a good time.

A beautiful dogwood in bloom.

Me pulling kin on the sea doo, Beatty Jr. behind me.

Gracie and a neighbor dog, who eats shoes, by the way....

It wasn't exactly warm.... My two beautiful redhead ladies.

Sweet 16

LC turned 16! Yeah!!!!!! What a lovely, beautiful daughter!

Birthday dinner of Lauren Claire at a local Japanese steakhouse.

Easter

The two Daniel's.

My great children!

Another great picture of them!

African Hunt

On May 2, Daniel, Gracie, and I participated in an African Hunt (targets) and had a great time. See the Rinehart 100 for more details.

Daniel shooting one of the larger targets.

Gracie found and shot at this hideous vampire bat.

No bull, not trying to buffaloe you.

Moonlight Ball

Lauren Claire participated in the Moonlight Ball this year....

Mom and Dad with beautiful daughter, LC.

LC with her escort, Ian.

Navarre

I drove down to Navarre from Mobile to spend a quick, wonderful day with friends, The Pocrevas.

On the beach for a quick 30 minutes....

I have no idea why I like this picture, but here it is.

Willow Point, Lake Martin (May/June)

We were blessed to go to Lake Martin again in late May/early June!

Don, vicki, PA, Ashley, and I grabbed a bite at Kowliga--men by water, women by land.

Island geocaching with Daniel, Gracie, Victoria, and Don.

Don and I having tea like the right Scotsmen we are.

Beautiful sunset on Lake Martin.

June

I took some time off one Monday to spend contemplating in the presence of God and nature. I went to Tannehill and spend time hiking the trails. Tannehill was one of the key ironworks during the War Betwen the States.

The old slave cemetary at the corner of Tannehill--long hike in the hot and humid.

While geocaching on the way to the teenager's church camp in Hattiesburg, MS, we stopped by this earth cache alongside the interstate in Meridian: concretians.

Daniel's 7th Birthday Party: an ARCHERY Party!!

what a great fun concept for a party! At Bennett's Archery.

Here is the crew at Daniel's 7th birthday party at Bennett's Archery in Wetumpka. Theo and Alec Simmonton, Daniel, Gracie, and James Dixon.

Daniel shooting at his birthday party.

Gracie shooting.

The birthday table.

The little mister blowing out his candles.

Late June

Geocaching with Daniel, we found one near the Clanton Peach water tower. Clanton: home of the best peaches!!

A few minutes later, at milemarker 194, Southbound I-65, where I spend most of the day! Life does not always go as planned!

Well, I hope you enjoyed this latest addition of Photos-At-A-Glance! Until next time!

--dtc--

Virgil Patterson, Born 1795, Died 1905. "His last days were spent with his old master's grand children".

We have an old Negro Graveyard* on our land (see footnote * below if you don't know what I mean). It is on a hillside facing East and has maybe 100 or so graves. We really don't know how many. Most of the graves, we suspect, we cannot find. The ones we know are there are marked either by a rough rock, probably pulled out of the local creek bed, or perhaps marked by the ground being sunk in** on either side of the body (see footnote ** as to why). A very few graves have an actual head stone and only a few are of any lasting quality. Mr. Patterson's tombstone, pictured above, is probably the finest in the cemetery and obvious great care was taken in its selection.

Virgil's tombstone brings a lot of emotion to me; in fact, this stoic ethnic Scotlander teared up a bit when I first saw it. He lived for 110 years, in three centuries. Most likely, he knew my cousin, Mira Carmichael, on whose family's land the graveyard resides. Mira also lived in three centuries, dying a few years ago at the ripe young age of 107, lucid to the very end. The Revolutionary war was not so many years ago, when measured in lifetimes--the War Between the States even less so. Mira new men who fought in the latter war, and Virgil in the former. Amazing. We are not so distantly connected to the past as we often suppose.

There is so much untold history, and people's perception of the past is rarely painted with more than one or two monotone colors; the result is that the vividness and reality of a time period is left to nothing more than a cliche. Known history is filled with this lack of color, of course, and we forget the horrors of one age in light of a more vivid horror in this one. For example, I daresay few people today know the real horrors of what the Indians did to other Indians, how they displaced the nations here before them, and instead just think of them in the present-day politically-correct view as the 100% victims of "The United States Government". Being of Scottish ancestry, we don't recall the ongoing rape of our daughters, wives, and sisters by the English in the border war years. Or, previous to that, the Norman's abuse of those they conquered at Hastings in 1066? We forget the horrors of one generation for the ones of this generation, be they concentration camps, ethnic purges, slavery, or some other horror.

So then, to the horror of slavery, there are many untold stories, no doubt. Of course, when I speak of slavery, I am really speaking of "Slavery"--the worldwide enslaving of Africans continued into the mid-19th century--and not all the other people taken into slavery in that period or before and since and of many different nationalities and colors. (However, as an aside, I am not so sure that we we have not replaced the forced indenture of a minority people with a more insidious kind of economic and mental slavery of all people, luring the masses into forced economic servitude through Madison Avenue, consumer credit, excessive taxes, and government welfare programs.)

Slavery. Slavery in the United States of America. Virgil Patterson, born a short while after the ratification of the US Constitution, a slave for the first 70 years of his life. "His last days were spent with his old master's grand children". Of all the many things he could be remembered for, those he loved and those who loved him declared living the rest of his days with his master's family to be the greatest thing he should be remembered for. Love. Kindness. Family. That is what this life is really about. Slave or Free. I am amazed. There is a whole book that could be written from that one, simple statement.

This life is not about oppression and tyranny and struggle. Yes, we have that in this life, but are wrong to think it is what life is about. It is a perfidious lie to be consumed by how our ancestors--or even ourselves--were oppressed and maligned by others. What matters in the end is love, gentleness, long suffering joy, goodness, faith, peace. Looking forward in spite of the hardships and wrongs we have been through, to make the world better. Life is about that. Family. As I get older, like most, I realize the great importance family has to life.

I really wish I could have met Mr. Patterson. I know he would have a different view of his life than what others in this politically correct charged world would seek to make of it, his being a former slave and all. He would expose the lie that his first 70 years could have been anything but horrible. Of course, there was evil perpetuated, and those he loved did what they could do to live within that evil system as Christian a manner as they could (no less than Christians today do the best they can to live in an evil system murdering thousands of unborn children every day). As best as they could, Patterson and his old master's grandchildren lived charitable, Christian lives and they and society were the better for it....

Below are some other pictures from the graveyard:

Daniel and Gracie at Virgil's headstone.

Part of the old Negro Cemetery*. One monument is visible (just above right of center) and numerous stones, marking various graves. Probably about 30 graves are in this picture, only a few known, visible only by the rocks or sunken ground on either side of the site.

* Some have a problem with the word "negro", either through misplaced political correctness or some other problem. Obviously, the United Negro College Fund has no problem with it in context and neither do I. "Negro Graveyard" here is used purposefully and with great honor to those men and women buried there. It would be wrong and disingenuous to call it anything else but that. For those who have not lived amongst the generations of black men and women born during the era of that graveyard, there is little hope I have to convey the honor and respect in calling it thus. To call it African-American or some other nonsensical name would be as uncharitable as to call the local graveyard where my ancestors were buried "Scottish-American" or other some such gobbledygook. We are all Americans, no matter how we came to immigrate here, and make this nation better or worse by our actions, not those of our ancestors. Great honor goes to all that made this nation great, slave or free, black or white, and anywhere in between.

** The ground sunk on either side of a gravesite seems strange, because we normally think, possible due to old wives' tales, that the sunken ground should be over the grave, not on either side. My friend, Chris G., came up with a plausible answer to this dilemma: we believe the ground has sunk on either side of the grave because, after the casket returns to dust (assuming one was used, it would assuredly be wooden), the open space that was within the coffin would then be filled in by the looser dirt on either side of the casket. The ground above the casket would be too hard packed to fill in those voids, as it would be densely packed from having been dug out and refilled at time of the burial.

"The Secret Place", from the story of the Shulamite woman (The Song of Solomon), by http://www.donnasmallenberg.com

Have you heard the latest study that children are hereditary? ...If your parents didn't have any, chances are you won't either!

Human sexuality is one of the most complex ideas I have pondered in all my life, of all the many spiritual and temporal ideas and knowledge I have set my heart to understand. Human sexuality is right up there with infinity, the effects of velocity and mass on time, and the Holy Trinity. Human sexuality is a mystery, the Bible says, that involves more than just skin on skin but an actual spiritual union analogous of the oneness the Body of Christ has with Jesus. It is so bold as to describe the oneness of husband and wife with Christ and the Church....Wow!

Though the Bible has lots to say on the subject--even devoting a whole book of the Bible to it, filled with subtle (and non-so-subtle) innuendo--the Church has done a poor job teaching human sexuality in its Biblical context for nigh unto two-thousand years. Most Christians do not have a proper Biblical world view of sex, but a distorted, less than right view. They wrongly think it something not to be mentioned or discussed with anything but a cursory response.

But God invented sex. And for us human be-ings, he tied sex to our spiritual nature, via the soul: something no other creature in existence has! Besides making it procreational, He has also made it recreational and relational. Have you ever pondered why of all animals humans are the only ones who procreate face-to-face? The Bible talks about a relational God as a relational being and the relational intimacies between husband and wife in such a similar context. It is face to face because it is more than a physical act; it is relational and deeply mysterious.

I'm slow on the uptake on a lot of things. I remembered I was engaged to my wife before I ever realized that women have hips and men didn't. (Ohhhhhhh.... I always thought the hips and waist were the same--duh! for men they are, lol...she had to tell me). So, I know I am slow to a lot of things and as I have been married nearly 19 years now, maybe it is time I realized some things that I never have before....And since I am writing this for myself and not others, I don't really mind if you have already figured all this out. Like I said, I'm slow!

Since about the time I became a Christian, I knew that the sex act was multifaceted in that it was somehow physical, soulical, and spiritual all at the same time. But I've always wondered about the sex drive. I mean, is it all just testosterone and chemical reactions and synaptic connections between nerve endings? Or is it also body/soul/spirit driven and, if so, how does it work and what is right and wrong? Noticing a beautiful sunset is not wrong, so what about a beautiful female? What really is lust and what is just admiring beauty? How do I know if I am sinning (i.e. lusting) versus not sinning (i.e. admiring God's handiwork)? Because of my desire to live holy for God, I have struggled with this since I was first sexually aware. I thank God for Romans 8:1 and Galatians 5:1, by the way, and you should, too.

I don't have the answers, but I have recently realized that the sex drive can be broken into multiple components, each sufficiently strong in and of itself to draw male and female to the sex act in either a holy or an unholy manner:

• The purely physical pleasure side, organic and nervous system driven. Like the rut for deer and elk, being in heat for dogs and cats, or going to Daytona Beach for Spring Break if you are a college student (laugh...it's funny). This is what a lot of "The World" focuses on--probably about 50% of "love" and sex is of this manner.

• Then there is the physical beauty of the human body: the curves of the female, the strength of the male. The soft and tender meeting the hardened and durable. It is male and female beauty viewed by the eyes, heard in the voice, smelled, tasted, touched. It is the attraction between husband and wife beyond hormones and our neurological system and compelled by beauty. For God has written beauty into the heart of mankind. The same beauty that causes a man to marvel at a sunset has basis for him wondering at the form of woman. This appears to be about 35% of what The World seems to be talking about when it talks sex and "love".

• Then what I call the soul area--the desire in our soul to have companionship with another, what draws friends together and, much more, husband and wife. The desire for intimacy beyond expression of words, thoughts, or touch. The desire to be one--truly one--where there is no distinction in thought between "me" and "us". The desire for "me" to be singularly plural--"me and my spouse as one". Like the union of the Trinity: the Divine Singular One-God, Three-in-One. This part of sexuality does not seem to be expressed well in The World, maybe 15% at best, and is what it cheaply calls "love" yet does not understand.

• Also in this soul-desiring area appears to be the desire to partake of another's character, or personality. The desire to share by joining with that person their goodness, integrity, and strength of person--or, in fallen and wicked form, the desire to share in the person's waywardness, lawlessness, rebelliousness.

• And then there is something deeper than all of these, the something I have always known, but STILL cannot put my thoughts around. There is something deeper, spiritual transcending time, place, and dimensions that happens at such a deep part, it becomes unfathomable as it intersects eternity. It is trust, faith, hope. Something eternal I cannot yet define, ineffable. It is something on the plane of existance wherin resides our own eternal spirit.

As some of you may know, I have been working on a number of projects this past year. From a joint venture with a technology firm in the REIT industry to working on my Executive MBA--and lots in between--it seems I have been doing so much that whenever I turn around I seem to be bumping into myself!

The project I am most excited about is the Joint Solution project. This week we rolled out our infomercial and it is currently showing in test markets around the country. I'm really excited because we have seen it literally change people's lives!

All natural, our product helps folks with joint discomfort due to age, injury, or arthritis. Customers of ours have reported that it has prevented surgery, helped injuries heal faster, and allowed them to return to an active and free life.

I'll let our website do the rest of the talking. Go to http://www.ActiveAndFree.com to check it out. I would love to hear your comments on the site. Also, if you are in the ministry let me know. As of this writing, we have a minstry program you may be eligible for.

Bests!!

--troy--

The cowards never started. The weak died on the way. Only the strong arrived. They were the pioneers.

As you've noticed the past three quarters, I've been busier than I would like to be, and have had little recreational time to do one of the things I enjoy, which is to write. The urge overcame me today and, with only a few minutes to spare, thought I would go back to my proverbial "bin of blog ideas" and bring out another addition of the ongoing Heroes series (search "Hero Series" on this site to find other additions).

The Hero Series comes out in no particular order; however, since I have been thinking much on the family lands and homes I tend to visit during this season, it got me thinking of pioneers, and not just the types pictured above. What a bunch of heroes pioneers are! Most Americans are descended from pioneering blood. For example, one of my ancestors came across on the Mayflower, another came from Scotland. Others left parts of the US to go pioneer the frontiers, such as the original Carmichael's that settled in Clay County, Alabama--Indian country and the frontier in its day. One ancestor in colonial New England survived scalping by Indians, though she probably had to wear a wig afterwards! Others made the trek to California--and back--in covered wagons like the one in the photo, above.

The quote under the above photo is on a plaque in The Great Platte River Road Archway Monument. It is museum that pays tribute to those who passed through Nebraska at different times while settling the West. They traveled along the Oregon Trail, Mormon Trail, California Trail, the first railroad, among others. Many of the pioneers died along the trail, whether by accident, weather, disease, Indians, or some other way. The ones that made it to homestead had to be tough to survive.

As we pass this time of Thanksgiving, remembering the original pioneers of the United States, and move toward Christmas, I think of the Way our Savior pioneered the Way for us--and how our spiritual brothers and sisters followed Him and pioneered our spiritual heritage in Christ. I give tribute to pioneers of all generations for the heroic work of trail blazing they have done!

"Walk by faith, not by sight." God's Word

(I've been terribly busy these last months so I've gone to my archive of not-yet-published and grabbed one from the Spring. --dtc--)

We are commanded to walk by faith, not by sight. The reason is simple: if, in the night, we walk by sight, we may be overcome in thought by the frightening things there.

Likewise, if we walk by sight when it is light, we may not see the darkness crouching in the shadows or misplace our confidence in our vision when it should be in Christ.

By faith, therefore, we must walk in the true reality of God--being overcome neither by the darkness nor the light we, with our eyes, mistake this earth to be. Only by blinding our eyes to this world and seeing it from God's vision may we truly see and be free. That's walking by faith. Lord let it be so in my life. Let it be so in yours.

If you like The Police's Every Move You Make, or enjoy econmics, here we have Columbia Business School's Dean Glenn Hubbard singing about wanting Alan Greenspan's job that went instead to New Fed Chair Ben Bernanke. Circa April 2006.

The Vatican Rag. Couldn't find a good video of this one, probably because there were not videos when Tom Lehrer made his LP in 1964. This one is a bit of religions humor relating to the Second Vatican Council in 1964 (the First Vatican Council was in 1869). This is a true classic parody.

Barak Hussein Obama's One Night In Baghdad, a take off of the song One Night In Bangkok from the 1980's musical, Chess. This man really scares me: either he is so stupid his policies are evil or he is, instead, a smart person with evil policies. I sure hope he is not the next President.

Yoda (take off of the Kink's 1972-ish hit, Lola). No parody would be complete without Weird Al, the polka king. He makes the accordian cool.

How to recognize a Persian cat. For those of you who were poor in geography and world history, the modern day country of Iran was generally known to history as Persia.

(pulled this out of my archive, written in March this year. You can tell what kind of mood I was in <grin>)

Yes, I know some folks will be offended at this. Fine. Be offended and neglect to see any of the humor in the picture; join the ranks of politically correct gormless souls. However, if you possess a sense of humor, you will recognize that I am saying none of the following (a) all Persians/Iranians are terrorists, (b) all terrorists are Persians/Iranians, or(c) all Persian cats are terrorists. For some of you, you may agree with (d) all cats are terrorists, but that, too, is a subjective matter of opinion.

But as long as we are talking about terrorists, let's be certain of something: all terrorists have been Muslims. Now, of course, that doesn't mean all Muslims are terrorists. The enemy our world is facing, though, is not some cuddly cat dressed up in a fake suicide bomber costume (though you would never know this is you watched the evening news). The enemies we face are religious extremists who see everyone not like them--Muslim or not--as their enemy in a holy war, a jihad, where everyone must die but them. In reality, these evil extremists are tools of Satan worshiping the devil at their altar of holy war extremism.

We've seen this before, in Nazi Germany. Hitler claimed to be a Christian (he wasn't really, but then again, you may not know that if you only watch the evening news). While he murdered millions of Jews, history seems to forget that he murdered nearly the same number of Christians: anyone not agreeing with Hitler was the enemy and deserving of extinction no matter what god they believed in. The same is true for the Muslim terrorist: he's nothing more than a Hitler without the goose-step.

What is also true is that, just as many Christian's did not rise up in protest of Hitler (out of fear, apathy, or any of a number of other reasons), we are seeing the same thing in the Muslim community. While the atrocities of the Muslim terrorist are many, very few Muslim leaders have come out in condemnation of Muslim terrorist activities. Without firm objection to terrorist activities, Muslim leaders not condemning such actions are actually giving their tacit approval.

On the political scene, we need to realize that those not in condemnation of the Muslim terrorists are, like those refusing to condemn Hitler's invasion of Poland, actually promoters of the Muslim terrorists. In order for evil to prevail all that is necessary is for men who know what is good to remain silent.

Perhaps, in view of the great threat llIslamofascist terrorists pose to the world today, we would be well served if we remembered these famous words from the time of Hitler:

In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;

And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;

And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;

And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up.

Let's not join the ranks of the Neville Chamberlain's of the world. Let's not be ashamed to speak up for what is right and against what is wrong. Let's speak out against wrongdoing when and where we see it. Let's speak out not only against terrorism and the Islamofascists who commit it, but against evil and wrong wherever it is seen. From those who seek to murder the innocent unborn to those who seek to rob the righteous of their bread, let's stand up and be vocal and active about what is right. Let's see justice return to this land as our people return to God and doing what is right in His sight.