More Blogthings... Can you tell I do this a lot?

You Are a Purple Flower

A purple flower tends to represent success, grace, and elegance. At times, you are faithful like a violet. And other times, you represent luxury, like a wisteria. And more than you wish, you find yourself heartbroken like a lilac.

What Color Flower Are You?

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What You Really Think Of Your Friends

Julie is your soulmate.

You truly love Carissa.

You consider Wendy your true friend.

You know that Heather is always thinking of you.

You'll remember Kandyce for the rest of your life.

You secretly think Anthony is creative, charming, and a bit too dramatic at times.

You secretly think that Daniel is colorful, impulsive, and a total risk taker.

You secretly think that Peter is loyal and trustworthy to you. And that Peter changes lovers faster than underwear.

You secretly think Christina is shy and nonconfrontational. And that Christina has a hidden internet romance.

What Do You Think of Your Friends?

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You Should Be A Capricorn

What's good about you: hard working and ambitious, you're practically a guaranteed success What's bad about you: you can be unforgiving toward people who fail you In love: you're very picky, but extremely devoted to the one you choose In friendship, you're: likely to be a good friend but expect a lot in return Your ideal job: rock climber, sculptor, or practitioner of black magic Your sense of fashion: preppy and put together You like to pig out on: meat and potatoes

What Sign Should You Be?

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You Are Snow

Magical yet potentially destructive You are well known as fun to play with People anticipate your arrival but then are quickly sick of you You are best known for: your serenity Your dominant state: reflecting

What Type of Weather Are You?

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You Belong in London

You belong in London, but you belong in many cities... Hong Kong, San Francisco, Sidney. You fit in almost anywhere. And London is diverse and international enough to satisfy many of your tastes. From curry to Shakespeare, London (almost) has it all!

What European City Do You Belong In?

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Your Driving Is is: 50% Male, 50% Female

According to studies, you drive both like a guy and a girl. This means you're a pretty average driver, with typical quirks. Occasionally you're frustrated and or a little reckless, but that's the exception - not the norm.

Do You Drive Like a Guy or a Girl?

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You Are a Chocolate Chip Cookie

Traditional and conservative, most people find you comforting. You're friendly and easy to get to know. This makes you very popular - without even trying!

What Kind of Cookie Are You?

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Your Heart Is Green

Love completes you, but that doesn't mean you seek it out. When love comes your way, you integrate it peacefully into the rest of you life. Your flirting style: Laid back Your lucky first date: Walking around aimlessly and talking Your dream lover: Is both enthusiastic and calm What you bring to relationships: Balance

What Color Heart Do You Have?

Infatuation

Body and soul most fit for love can best
Withstand it. I am ill, and cannot rest,
Therefore I'm caught. Disease is amorous, health
At love's door has the pass both in and out.
Want cannot choose but grub with needy snout
In ravenous dreams, let temperence wait on wealth.
Don't think of her tonight... the very strain
Wears the will down; then in she comes by stealth.

How am I made that such a thing can trouble
My fancy for a day? Her brain's a bubble,
Her soul, a traveller's tale. Her every thrust
And trick I understand... the mould so mean,
And she the thousandth copy, comes between
My thoughts and me... unfrank, unfit for trust,
Yet ignorant in her cunning, a blind tool,
When nature bids her, labouring as she must.

Back to my book. Read. Read. Don't think upon her,
Where every thought is hatred and dishonor.
I do not love her, like her, wish her well.
Is it mere lust? But lust can quench his thirst
In any water; rather, at the first,
There was one moment when I could not tell
The thing she surely is. I stood unarmed
That moment, and the stroke that moment fell.

She stood, an image lost as soon as seen,
Like beauty in a vision half-caught between
Two aimless and long-lumbering dreams of night.
The thing I seek for was not anywhere
At any time on earth. That huntress air
And morning freshness was not hers by right.
She spoke, she smiled; put out what seened the flame,
Left me the cold charred sticks, the ashes white.

And from these sprang the dream I dare not chase,
Lest, the long hunt be over, I embrace
My shadow. (Furies wait upon that bed)
It plucks me at the elbow... 'love can reach
That other soul of hers... charity teach
Atrophied powers once more to raise the head,
Sweet charity.' But she can never learn;
And what am I, whose voice should wake the dead?

How could she learn, who never since her birth
Looked out of her desires and saw the earth
Unshadowed by herself. She knows that man
Has whimsies, and will talk, and take concern
With wondering and desires that serve no turn
Of woman. She would ape, (for well she can),
The rapt disciple at her need, till mask
Was needless... And all ends where it began.

Her holiest moods are gaudy desecrations
Of poor half holy things: her exaltations
Are frothed from music, moonlight, wine and dance;
Love is to her a dream of bridal dresses,
Friendship, a tittering hour of girl's caresses,
Virtue, a steady purpose to advance,
Honoured, and safe, by the old well-proven roads,
No loophole left to passion or to chance.

I longed last night to make her know the truth
That none of them has told her. Flushed with youth,
Dazed with a half-hour triumph, she held the crowd.
She loved the boys that buzzed on her like flies,
She loved the envy in the women's eyes,
Faster she talked. I longed to cry aloud,
'What, has no brother told you yet, with whom
With what, you share the power that makes you proud?'

Could she have looked so noble, and no seed
Of spirit in her at all? But mother-greed
Has linked her boy-like splendour to the yoke.
Venus infernal taught such voice and eyes
To bear themselves abroad for merchandise...
Horrible woman-nature, at one stroke
Making the beauty, bending beauty down
To ruthless tasks, before the spirit awoke.

Thank heaven, though I were meshed and made secure,
Its odds, she'd never have me. I am poor...
Thank heave, for if she did, what comes behind!
Can I not see her now, marked with my name,
Among my friends (shame not to hide my shame),
And her glib tongue runs on and rambles blind
Through her slippery paths, revealing and revealing,
While they for my sake cover it and are kind.

Kind? Let them look at home. Which of them all
Knows how his act or word next hour may fall?
Into them, too, this might have come, unbidden,
Unlooked for. For each one of us, down below
The caldron brews in the dark. We do not know
By whom, or on what fields, we are reined and ridden.
There are not acts; spectators of ourselves
We wait and watch the event, the cause is hidden.

All power in man is mummery: good report
A fable: this apparent mind, the sport
For mumbling dynasts old as wind and tide.
Talk, posture, gild it over... still the motion
That moves us is not ours, but in the ocean
Of hunger and bleak fear, like buoys we ride,
And seem to move ourselves, and in the waves
Lifting and falling take our shame and pride.

~C. S. Lewis

Blogthings... thought I'd just post a whole bunch!

You Are the Swedish Chef

"Bork! Bork! Bork!" Your happy and energetic - with borderline manic tendencies. No one really gets you. And frankly, you don't even get you. But, you sure can whip up a great chocolate mousse

The Muppet Personality Test

You Are Big Bird

Talented, smart, and friendly... you're also one of the sanest people around. You are usually feeling: Happy. From riding a unicycle to writing poetry, you have plenty of hobbies to keep you busy. You are famous for: Being a friend to everyone. Even the grumpiest person gets along with you. How you life your life: Joyfully. "Super. Duper. Flooper."

The Sesame Street Personality Quiz

Veggie Pizza

Upscale and trendy. You're the most likely to go for a gourmet pizza. You have impeccable taste in everything. You truly enjoy the finer things in life.

What's Your Pizza Personality?

You Are an Espresso

At your best, you are: straight shooting, ambitious, and energetic At your worst, you are: anxious and high strung You drink coffee when: anytime you're not sleeping Your caffeine addiction level: high

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

You Are a Powdered Devil's Food Donut

A total sweetheart on the outside, you love to fool people with your innocent image. On the inside you're a little darker, richer, and more complex. You're a hedonist who demands more than one pleasure at a time. Decadent and daring, you test the limits of human indulgence.

What Donut Are You?

You Are Coke

A true original and classic, you represent the best of everything you can offer. Just the right amount of sweet, just the right amount of energy... you're the life of the party. Your best soda match: Mountain Dew Stay away from:Dr Pepper

What Kind of Soda Are You?

You Are Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

You are kind, popular, and generous. You tend to be successful at anything you try. A social butterfly, you are great at entertaining a crowd. You are most compatible with strawberry ice cream.

What Flavor Ice Cream Are You?

Your Birth Month is January

You are a natural leader who is able to stand up when no one else can. Strong and powerful, you tend to overshadow those around you. Your soul reflects: deep love, fascination with life, and a distinctive persona Your gemstone: Garnet Your flower: Snowdrop Your colors: Black, dark red, and dark blue

What Does Your Birth Month Mean?

You Are Emerald Green

Deep and mysterious, it often seems like no one truly gets you. Inside, you are very emotional and moody - though you don't let it show. People usually have a strong reaction to you... profound love or deep hate. But you can even get those who hate you to come around. There's something naturally harmonious about you.

What Color Green Are You?

You Are an Oatmeal Raisin Cookie

On the surface, you're a little plain - but you have many subtle dimensions to your personality. Sometimes you're down to earth and crunchy. Other times, you're sweet and a little gooey.

What Kind of Cookie Are You?

Your Hillbilly Name Is...

Tammy Lee Bull

Hillbilly Name Generator

When being different becomes the same

Tonight was my second Sunday at Mosaic, which is an organized group of Christians that meet every week at the old Mayan Theatre in Los Angeles (also known as a Church meeting, but they don't call it that).

It's really exciting, and they have a good message... it's not wishy-washy like I was expecting like (putting on a stoner voice), "Come to Jesus and everything will be... cool, man." No, it wasn't like that. Fully commendable, and they're doing a great thing there. But some things have been rubbing be the wrong way, and I think I finally pinpointed what it was. I think they may be trying so hard to be different and "prove" that all of these stereotypes are wrong, they are throwing out the baby with the bathwater, so to speak. Rather than taking what is wrong and making it right, they take what is wrong and just chuck it so there's nothing left. Let me explain.

The person speaking on this series of the "Controversial Jesus" is very good. He's to the point, he addresses things that some people may not like to, and he is easy to listen to. He's funny, charismatic, and he relates well to the crowd. But he doesn't like religion.

Don't get me wrong, I fully understand what he means by that, and why he must be frustrated, but there's a problem with discounting religion altogether as a bad thing. Religion in and of itself is not a bad thing. Essentially what religion is, is a series of rituals performed by a group of people that believe the same thing. The purpose of those rituals should stand as reminders of why they believe what they believe, and to have a sort of structure to those beliefs. The trouble with religion is that frequently it is those same rituals that are emphasized, and they lose their purpose--the performers look to the ritual for cleansing salvation instead of simply using them as symbols for what they have their faith in. Getting rid of religion and ritual altogether would mean getting rid of Christmas, Easter, Sunday meetings, Saturday meetings (for Jews or SDA's), or anything else you can think of that has anything to do with organization.

The intention here is a good one, but unfortunately, I don't believe it has been thought through. Jesus did not come to remove religion, he came to fulfill it and make it perfect... In fact, I think at the very least he showed us how religion serves a purpose, not to save, but simply stand as a reminder and a maintainer of reverence for the God who saved you.

The second thing that bothered me more tonight than the first time (because he did the same thing) was embedded in his analogies. I'd have to listen to the first one again to get it, but tonight he was talking about how the crowds took Barabbus back and had Jesus crucified instead. He began making comparisons to today -- "Honestly, now, if we were given the option, would you choose to crucify Ghandi or Saddam Hussein? Probably Saddam, right?" (then the part that got to me:) "If we were given Charles Manson or Billy Graham, we'd probably pick Manson, right??" It should be pretty obvious what I find wrong with that statement, but I'll tell you for the sake of maintaining my novel-long blogs...

Think about it... a man who persecutes Christians and makes a living off of it. He finds pleasure in seeing them in pain. Yeah, I'm glad that we saw Paul coming (Saul at the time) so that we could get rid of him before he killed to many of us. I'm glad that when we think of a Christian we think of someone who, yeah is a sinner, but didn't do anything too horrible, so it's okay, they can still be saved. God likes them better. NO!!! NO!!! NO!!! If we're talking about degrees of sin and salvation, IT DOESN'T MATTER! So you've already given up on Charles Manson? I really hope no one compares him to Saddam Hussein or Hitler. He hasn't killed thousands of people because he felt like it. Paul did. Maybe not thousands, but at least hundreds. He was trying to kill them all. He would have whipped out the gas chambers and lined them up along ditches and mowed them down with a machine gun, had he the technology. God had other plans for Paul. Maybe God has different plans for Charles Manson. Maybe he's going to be on his way somewhere and have something go to horribly wrong that he's going to recognize that something is at work. Maybe he's going to experience something that is so beyond anything we could imagine, that he will BE the next Billy Graham. Charles Manson's life is not over. We have yet to see how God is going to use him for His plan.

The one thing that I'd like everyone to recognize... is that I am no better than those people who spit on Jesus, flogged him, nailed down his hands, or even were in the crowds yelling, "CRUCIFY HIM!!!"

All I know is that the only difference between me and them... is that God took pity on me. That's it.

Comfort

Another poem by my great grandmother.

Comfort

Art thou downcast? One can make thee glad,
Art thou afflicted? There is healing to be had,
In the fount of living waters,
For God’s weary sons and daughters,
There is life and health and peace,
For the flowing doth not cease.
It meets our every cry of need
In God’s blest Word, do we not read?
“With joy shall ye draw near the brink
And of His love, ye deep shall drink,”
For Jesus feels for those who weep,
Has he not borne our sorrows deep?
Art thou tired? There’s a rest remaining,
Hast thou sinned? There’s a sacrifice, lift up thy head,
Christ in the glory still is watching thee,
He never will forsake the one for whom He bled.

Lily Orr.

Mother's Prayer

This was a poem written by my great grandmother when my grandfather was born. My grandfather passed away this past Thursday, 18 May 2006.

Mother’s Prayer
Of Thine own have we given Thee.

Lord, we are Thine, Thy very own,
For us Thou camest from Thy throne,
Yes, down from above, in measureless love,
To woo and to win, from the haunts of sin,
Those whom Thy love would crown.

And since Thou hast bought us and we are Thine,
Thou makest Thy face upon us to shine,
And this sweet child we received from Thee,
Oh, should we not ever grateful be?

Lord, take him back at our hands we pray,
We would yield him to Thee without delay,
And in these last days may even he
Stand in the widening breach for Thee.

Oh, teach us to order the child, that so
If Thou art not come to our Home we go,
He may know how to walk in Thy truth below.

Oh, teach us to order the child, that he
Walking in fellowship sweet with Thee,
Will be used in setting Thy people free.

Dear Lord, save this young life early, we pray,
That, knowing Thee, whilst it is yet called day
He may show poor sinners the narrow way.

And when Thou callest him Home above,
To dwell with Thee in Thy heavenly love,
May he bring his arms full of sheaves to Thee.
Thou blessed Lamb of Calvary.

Lily Orr.

Come In

Come In
by Robert Frost

As I came to the edge of the woods,
Thrush music - hark!
Now if it was dusk outside,
Inside it was dark.

Too dark in the woods for a bird
By sleight of wing
To better its perch for the night,
Though it still could sing.

The last of the light of the sun
That had died in the west
Still lived for one song more
In a thrush's breast.

Far in the pillard dark
Thrush music went -
Almost like a call to come in
To the dark and lament.

But no, I was out for stars
I would not come in.
I meant not even if asked,
And I hadn't been.