Abortion Advertising

Advertising is important and effective. It's why companies paid $3.5 million for 30 second ads during the Super Bowl. Yep. 

Imagine this...there is a new restaurant in town. EVERYONE says it sucks. Waitresses are rude. The line is forever long. Food is not good. Food takes too long to come. Hostess has not got the mostest. The decor stinks. The seats are uncomfy. The tables are dirty. The air conditioning doesn't work so well so it's uncomfortable hot in there. And, the prices are really high! You get too little food for too much money! Forget it!

Do you want to go there?

What if you see a whole big long line of people holding signs telling you to go eat there...wanna go there?

What if the gov't passed a law requiring you to go there once a year?

Even tho' you've never been there before...you sure don't like that place, do you? You will likely even warn others not to go there.

Now, what if you get invited out to lunch and whadaya know? Everyone's meeting there? Oh geez. You don't wanna be rude, so you show up. How do you think all that advertising you heard will effect how you experience your lunch? Will you notice everything wrong with the place? Sure.

Do it the flip way...

New restaurant. EVERYONE is talking it up. Man is that the place to go! Whoo wee! Waitresses are SO nice! Food is excellent! Lots of it! Cheap! Hot! The atmosphere is incredible! Seating and tables are clean and awesome! The bathrooms are so clean and fancy you could eat off the floors! It's SOOOO awesome there!

Now what? You can't wait to go, right!?

What if there were people standing a mile long on the road one day holding signs telling you NOT to go there. You'd wonder what was wrong with those people, right? What if the gov't tried shutting that restaurant down? You might even write your Congressman and tell him about it, right?

OK...

Where am I going with this?

ABORTION. 

ABORTION...in my opinion...we do not have legalized abortion in our country because of liberals...leftists...Democrats...or anti-Christian beliefs...whatever the right wants to blame this on...

We have this problem because of...advertising. And, Christians are right there with the advertisers PROMOTING/SELLING abortions.

And, no...as far as advertising goes, I don't mean that Christians need to put more bumper stickers on their cars or wear more t-shirts. No. It doesn't matter how many petitions people sign...how many Facebook "likes" they put on unborn babies...how many pictures of their own ultrasounds they post...how many pamphlets they leave around...how many pro-life bumper stickers they display or if they have the "Choose Life" license plate...how many pro-life t-shirts they wear...how many pro-life organizations they volunteer for or give money to...how many pro-life politicians they vote for...because most Christians spend every day advertising, "Having a child will ruin your life!"

They do. I hear them all the time. I read the status updates. I talk to people. I overhear people. I see the looks on their faces when dealing with their kids. People think having kids ruins their lives.

I have heard "pro-life" Christians say things like:

"I don't know what I'd do if I had another kid! I can't HANDLE any more!"

"You have 8 kids? I only have 1 and I can't HANDLE them!"

"You have 8 kids? You must be a saint!"

"Toddlers are SO hard to handle!"

"Just wait till the TERRIBLE twos!"

"Ugh! You think this is hard wait till you have a teenager! They're the worst!"

"I never get any sleep!"

"My child drives me crazy!"

"I don't have the patience for kids!"

"I neeeeeeeeed a night away from my (2) kids!"

"Kids get in the way of doing ministry work!"

"If only we didn't have the kids we could do..."

"If only we didn't have the kids we could go..."

"Someday when the kids are grown we'll have money to do things..."

"When my kids are grown then I want to do (this fun thing)"

"Oh, that poor girl! She's totally ruined her life!" (said about a pregnant teenager)

"You definitely need to wait to have kids until you get a chance to live a little!" (have fun before all the misery begins)

It's why ladies follow, "Infant Management Programs" (Babywise) Because, "by golly, in the name of God I will not let this kid interrupt my life!"

I got pregnant when I was 17. No one said to me, "Wow! A baby! Your firstborn! How precious! Some people wait till very late in life to start families, but, you will be so young when your child is grown I bet they will be your best friend. Oh, having children is so wonderful. Kids are the best! Oh, you must be so excited!"

You know, those words would have been THE TRUTH.

No. I believed all the advertising. I believed that I had just ruined my life. Babies are smelly. Babies are messy. Babies cry. Babies are horrid selfish creatures that manipulate you to be held all the time and they end up taking all your time and money and leave you worn out and broke! Have a baby and you can never have any fun anymore unless you go broke paying a sitter! Work! Work! Work! That's all they are. A thankless job, at that! They have tantrums and they disrespect you all thru their childhoods and they're horrible when they're teenagers! And, worst yet I will have to miss out on all the partying and fun of college! Life as I had always dreamed of it was OVER! Wrecked! Ruined! Destroyed!

That belief I had was not based on any experience with babies, myself. I couldn't remember even ever holding one! The belief I had came from my culture. It came from hearing everything that everyone says about having babies.

The reason that in 2008, approximately 1.21 million abortions took place in the U.S is because those 1.21 million mothers were convinced that having a baby would ruin their life as they knew it. Ruin something. They didn't have enough money. They didn't have enough education. They didn't have enough time. They didn't have enough patience. Whatever it was having a baby was NOT better than whatever they chose to do instead. Working. Going to college. Anything was better than having a baby.

If any of you Christians out there hate abortion, you need to look at yourself and ask yourself what you think of having children. Do you love having them? No. Not do you love them in spite of the fact that they irritate you and are hard to "handle". No. Do you LOVE HAVING KIDS? Do you see each of your children as "something to handle" or do you see them like a $10 million dollar bill (aka something to be enjoyed)? Do you ENJOY having them as part of your life?

What believe about children is going to be what you advertise to the world every day with every word you speak about your children...

What are you advertising?

"Having a kid is the best most awesome thing in the world!"

or...are you advertising:

"Whatever you do DON'T HAVE KIDS!!!"

If every Christian in the world painted the picture that having kids was the awesomest funnest wonderfullest thing you could possibly ever do...that having a baby was better than getting a $10 million check...no one would WANT an abortion...

Voting pro-life won't fix the problem of abortion as long as Christians all think that having kids is a big pain in the butt and that kids are something to "handle"...this

If you care about the subject of abortion...it is as they say...you have to "be the change you want to see in the world"...

(There is another problem that Christians tend to have no respect for children either...and this too adds to the problem of abortion...but that will be another posting...)

Love and Respect

I was thinking last night and this morning about respect...

Dictionary.com says:

re·spect

   [ri-spekt]  Show IPA

noun

1.

a particular, detail, or point (usually preceded by in ): todiffer in some respect.

2.

relation or reference: inquiries with respect to a route.

3.

esteem for or a sense of the worth or excellence of aperson, a personal quality or ability, or somethingconsidered as a manifestation of a personal quality orability: I have great respect for her judgment.

4.

deference to a right, privilege, privileged position, orsomeone or something considered to have certain rights orprivileges; proper acceptance or courtesy;acknowledgment: respect for a suspect's right to counsel; to showrespect for the flag; respect for the elderly.

5.

the condition of being esteemed or honored: to be held inrespect.

(I bolded the ones that stuck out to me.)

I think most of the problems we have in this world is due to a lack of esteem for or sense of worth or excellence of others. A lack of respect.

Where would this come from? Why do we humans fail to see the worth of others and treat them accordingly? It's my opinion we're raised that way. Yes. Even tho' most parents force kids to "speak" respectfully to everyone with their, "Now say 'thank you' to Miss So-n-So" orders all the time...we teach our kids the value of others by the way we treat them.

The Bible says, "Train them up...and when they are old they won't depart from it." Right? More commonly it's simply put, "the apple don't fall far from the tree." Or, it could even be put, "What comes around goes around." Kids learn what they live...and then...they live what they learned...

Parents "today" seem to say the same thing parents always have, "Kids these days..." and then the answer for whatever seems to be ailing "kids these days" is more "discipline"...which most people have wrongly defined as more punishment and more control over kids.

I thought "the greatest if these was love?" I thought, "love never fails"? But, yet, parents think kids need more suffering and more control?!

So, recently in the "news" (internet) there have been 2 dads who have been shown "disciplining" their daughters. What I find most disturbing about the 2 videos is all of the comments approving of these dad's actions...saying, "this is what kids these days need..."

The first video is the one of the Texas judge beating his teenage daughter with a belt while cussing her out.
The 2nd video is the one of the cowboy-hat-clad dad with the pistol who shoots her laptop.

I think a lot of people who approve of the 2nd one but not the 1st, are failing to see that both videos show dad's with the same heart...a heart of disrespect toward their daughters. The only difference between the two dads is the way they chose to express their disrespect.

Both dads identified something "wrong" that their daughters had done. Both chose the modern-day idea of "discipline" to remedy this. They used humiliation and pain as the way to correct this wrong. One did it by cussing and hitting, the other did it by reading her words for everyone to read and then destroying her computer.

Some people have applauded one and not the other...some have applauded both, believe it or not. I have read so many comments praising these days for "stepping up" and "being involved in their daughter's lives" and for "caring" and for "teaching these naughty girls a lesson". (I normally avoid reading comments because it seems comment boxes attract the world's most confused people...with bad spelling...)

Hmmm. So! Today is Valentine's Day. The day dedicated to love and caring, right? So...who else would it be be termed "loving and caring" for these men...to humiliate and hurt? Who else would it be considered good acceptable for the dads to teach the same lessons to? Their wives? Their employees? Their friends? Their co-workers? Customers? Just who else would it be OK for those men to humiliate and hurt to teach them a lesson? Who else could those men destroy the property of to teach them a lesson and have that be OK?

So, what if the daughter in the 2nd video had not been the target of the video. Say it had been her mom. Say that girl had turned on her computer and seen that video posted on her mom's wall...and then realized she could hear her mom over in her room sniffling (crying) all alone while Dad sat smugly at the kitchen table sipping a cup of coffee and reading the paper? What if the daughter had that experience? What would you all say to her? Would you all tell her that her dad was just using "tough love" on his disrespectful wife and that it was all for the best, "Chin up!" Or, would you think that that lady needs to get herself out of that abusive situation, leave that man, and take her daughter with her asap? Would you see it as abusive for a man to do that to his wife? Then, why not the daughter? Why is it acceptable to treat the child that way and not the mother?

And, ya have to realize the extent of what the dad did. Go back 10 years...and what happened was...she wrote a note to one of her friends about how much she was mad at her parents. That kids' mom found it and gave it to her dad then, feeling concerned. Then, the dad grabbed some of her school books, some of her book reports that were soon due that she'd been working on, her encyclopedia set, all of her research books and her library card, all of her photo albums, all of her birthday cards and letters she'd received in the last few years, and all of her music CD's...and he put them out in the yard in front of the house and burned them while CNN International aired it. That is what that man did to his daughter.

Or, what if the father had not made this video...what if it had been this girl's boyfriend? What if her boyfriend had given her that computer and had done the same thing? What might her dad have said to her about that boy? Would he have been like, "That's a great future husband for you!" or might he have forbidden her from seeing that boy again after seeing how controlling and hurtful that boy was? Is that the kind of man that father wants for his daughter? He should realize that most girls marry someone just like their dads...


And, I don't even have to get into the guy with the cussing and the belt...anyone who really thinks that was OK is not worth even trying to reason with...

Basically, since we learn best by example, what did both of the girls get taught by their dads?

From the girls' perspectives, they saw their dads as they discovered that someone under their authority had done something wrong And, the way their dads taught their girls to handle a situation like that is that the proper way to deal with a subordinate's bad behavior is to either:

1. harm them physically with violence
2. harm them with words
3. destroy their personal property with violence

The dads taught their daughters that when you are in a position of authority over someone, and that person is weaker than you, and they do something which embarrasses you or disrespects you that the way to handle it is to hurt the person. Period. That is the lesson both dad's taught.

Sad.

For the girl whose dad just shot her computer, I can only imagine how she feels waking up this morning. And, if he were to come to her and try to give her a Valentine's card or something...I don't even know how I'd react to that double-standard of treatment. I don't know what I'd do with a dad who'd do that to me one day, violate me so, and then try to say, "I love you."

Sad sad world. That's what I was just thinking.


BTW...I know there is a lot of "stock" photography all over the internet...but I actually took this pic with my own camera and saw this cloud with my own eyes. It was in front of a Beall's store in DeBary, Florida in 2009...yep yep...and it was so quick...we all looked up and there it was...grabbed a camera...snap snap...then it was gone... :)

Flushed Away!

Had an experience in a public place that struck me about something for the first time...

It's something that I think happens to all of us...unless it's just me? But, I think it's something in the "no-big-deal" category...something that...if I were to post the story on Facebook there'd be lots of comments beneath it like, "LOL" and "LMBO"...but it just struck me last night that it's actually not funny...

Imagine this...you're in a public restroom with one of those wonderful automatic-flushing toilets (that have scared many of my kids!). You sit down and set your cell phone on your skirt...do your business...and then forget that the phone is there and you stand up...dropping the phone <pluuunk!!!> into the toilet. Imagine your horror! You would turn, think, "eew" for a second, and reach for the phone...only then to have that toilet...that wonderful modern toilet...make that little "click" and "WHOOOOOSH!" and suck your phone away in an instant before you could even get the tips of your fingers into the water.

Would that be funny? Maybe later you'd tell the story in retrospect and laugh. But, at that moment, would you be laughing?

Some people might...but I think most people would be pretty mad. And, depending on the phone and how personal it was...sad, too.

Well, now let's say you're not you...you're 6...and the phone is your $3 laser pointer that you have been enjoying and dragging around with you for several days now. And, let's say this actually happened to you...how do you think you would feel?

Yesterday, I saw a 6 year old girl rush out of the bathroom crying hysterically...and her older sister, a young woman in her early 20's, was following behind her stifling giggles.

As I mentioned earlier...if I were to post this on Facebook that one of my kids had had this happen to them...the comments beneath would for sure have at least one "LOL" in it, true? And, I myself felt a bit like smiling...when I heard the young woman tell their mother what had just happened in the bathroom. But, it struck me suddenly how not actually funny that was...

The little girls' pain was real...and what she'd just experienced was obviously very upsetting to her. And, had she just flushed her pet hamster down the toilet, or if she were crying hysterically because she'd just seen her cat get run over by a car...we wouldn't laugh. I think it is that if we identify the event as something we'd think is worth being sad over we have empathy. But, if we think it's no big deal, then we don't really "care" about what the child is going thru.

The other thing that struck me is that I do this. I listen to my kids sometimes when they cry hysterically and I don't connect with them "there". I turn my head and giggle a little. I sort of look at them from afar and detached and rather than "feel" their pain and hug them and offer them the emotional support they need at that moment because I think the thing they're upset about is "unimportant"...I brush it off. I laugh. I tell them to "quit crying". I tell them not to worry about it. I tell them "it's OK". I think a lot of times when I'm at my "wits end" not knowing how to handle a situation with my kids is simply because I'm not seeing the situation from their perspective and so of course, I can't handle what's going on.

It makes me sad when I think about my own reactions just because I don't "get it" and how alone that can make my kids feel. And, it makes me sad for all the kids in the world because a LOT of kids out there in the world not only feel "alone" when they're this hurt or upset...they get punished/rejected/spanked when they're feeling these feelings...such a sad world...

It just struck me that this is one very empathy-less world we're living in....that kids don't get respect...and that I still have so much to learn and grow...I'm hoping I'll remember this moment every time they cry from now on...and treat them how they feel not how I would feel in their elementary school age situation as a 40 year old...

Light in the Darkness

I just had the most awesome experience tonight! (It's 1am, Dara!) OK! Last night. Whatever…

Light show at Disney... Sitting there on the uncomfy pavement in front of Cinderella's castle waiting for the fireworks display and they did this…thing…where they used Cinderella's castle as a…screen! They showed photos and videos on it. It was WILD. And, the wildest part was the part where they shone lights on the castle that completely changed it's appearance. At many points the castle looked fake…like it was a cartoon. It was the original meaning of awesome…it inspired awe. We're used to Hollywood taking fake stuff and making it look real, right? Computer animation like Avatar we're used to. But, what they did before my eyes in the real world was they took something real (the building that looks like a castle) and manipulated the light hitting it and it made it look fake. Made it look like it was a cartoon. It was so flippin' AMAZING! 

Check it out! 
(Sorry the pics aren't the best!)

They played videos and pictures that had been taken in the park "today" all over the castle...

Here, the castle was in flames!

Here, it started off all dark and then we heard chalk noises as the castle was outlined...

Then, it was colored in...

When it was time to change to something different it was "erased" and chalk blew away...

When the castle looked like this it looked like it wasn't real...it looked like a cartoon...

And, that…got me thinking as I sat there… 

Romans 1…

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made 

THIS amazing awesome thing I experienced isn't an accident. Isn't…like…by chance. It MEANS something. This thing I experienced is "science" and it means something in the spiritual world 'cause God designed it that way to teach us something… 

And, so… 

The Bible says that...

Jesus…is the light of the world…
Those who hate Jesus live "in darkness"…and their eyes are blind…
Satan comes as an angel of light and blinds those who don't believe... 

There is a lot of imagery in the Bible to that effect. A lot of spiritual imagery in the Bible…and tonights show at the castle was the physical example of it. 

There was a building there in the daylight. When the SUN shone upon that building and I looked at it I saw it. I knew what color it was and how the building was structured and I could see that there were still some of the Christmas light nettings on one of the spires. I could see…when the true light of day…the light of the sun…was shining on it I could correctly see what was actually there. 

THEN… 

It's 8pm. It's dark. No more sunlight. They announced that in order to do this thing (show us this light show) they would have to turn off the lights. Get that? Turn off the things designed to help our eyes be able to see what's actually there. In order for them to show us something that wasn't there…they had to turn…off…the…lights. Get that? 

In order for me to sit there and have my eyes look at something and see it incorrectly…in order for my eyes to be deceived and to NOT see what's really there but rather, to see what the person doing the showing wanted me to see…they had to outen the lights. (Outen's not even a word is it!) 

We have eyes so we can see physically. And, we see physically when light bounces off that object and hits our eyes. A whole area of medicine is dedicated to the eye because the eye is so awesome. But, without a source of light to create light to bounce off of an object to return and enter that eye…the eye is useless. 

Depending on the light type…and intensity of it…your eyes can be deceived or they can tell you the truth. My experience tonight was that my eyes were SOOOO deceived…but in a way that was sooooo amazing!!!! 

So, if we back up to them turning off the lights so they could do the show. In order to be visually deceived we have to have the source of LIGHT shut off. Extinguished. That's the physical world... 

What about the spiritual world? If you think about it…all the religious views will acknowledge "God" or some "higher power" but they all have one thing in common…they say "no" to Jesus whom the Bible refers to as the "light" of the world…

Jesus used to tell parables and say, "Let him who can see see…" He touched them and allowed their eyes to begin receiving the input that sunlight bouncing off of objects carries.  He healed the spiritually blind, too... He was speaking spiritually…and that is why He healed the physically blind. The physically blind cannot perceive the light which is bouncing off of objects...and the spiritually blind cannot see spiritually or they see what's not there...

I said that the deception my eyes experienced tonight was amazing…and it was…and I bet that technology could make a house that looks like a pile of garbage look amazing. But, who wants a pile of garbage that looks beautiful in false light? Don't we all want a "house" that looks beautiful even in the brightest sun of day? Sometimes, what's true and right doesn't look as "amazing" and "awesome" as the false thing...but real is always better...

And, getting back to last night...although I was "powerless"…powerless as I sat there in the dark to tell my eyes that I was not seeing something real. 

My mind received that input thru my eyes and believed what it saw…and no amount of the following things would have made my eyes stop seeing what they were seeing:

- telling me

- preaching at me

- pamphlets revealing the truth about the light show

- accusing me of believing a lie
- posting blog postings like this on their walls

- protesting at the light show that it was showing something untrue

- holding signs by the road that would tell me that the light show deceived my eyes

- telling me God hates me because my eyes see the castle as it is not

- judging me for seeing what I was seeing and stop being my friend

- giving me CD's of your pastor's latest sermon explaining all the technical reasons why the things my eyes were perceiving were false

...none of these tactics or any such thing could have made my eyes stop seeing what they were seeing that night!!! My eyes were seeing what they were seeing because someone purposely turned off the lights and showed me what they wanted me to see and I was seeing it...right?

The only way to stop a deception like this...beautiful tho' it may be...

...is quite simply to turn on the light...

"But if the light in you is darkness...how great is that darkness..."


You are to be the light of the world...you are to shine for Jesus. Shining for Jesus isn't about what you do for the church or what you do in Jesus's name...it's about who you are when you do those things...


- - -

The fireworks after the light show were amazing, too!!! There were fireworks in the shapes of hearts and stars...it was just awesome!!!

Videos I took of the light show:

- - - - - - - - -

I feel like there is so much truth in just the concept of "light"…that a whole book could be written on it…but that's all I have to say about it for now! 

Managing Baby Jesus?

Normally what happens when "I was just thinking" is that I'm in the shower (only place I really relax) and I get something in my head and I can't wait to get out here to the computer and type. It's been a while since I felt like that...

I feel like that right now!

But, I can't take credit for this thought at all! I was listening to a podcast from a church I listen to a lot...and it was a sermon I didn't even think I'd wanna bother with 'cause it was a "Christmas Sermon". So last year, right? WELL...I am SO GLAD I listened to it!

Pastor is Shane Hipps. And, he talked about the gift of the Christ child.

He brought a lady up onto stage with an infant and asked her questions about her relationship with that infant. He asked her how she feels when the baby cries and how she feels when the baby laughs. He asked her how she responds when the baby cries...if she waits an hour? And, she said, "No. I go right away." He asked, "Why?" and she replied, "Because I love her."

He then pointed out that Jesus...came to earth as a baby. God...came to earth as a baby...who spent His time as an infant...crying out...to His mommy...at all times of the day and night no matter what Mary was doing or what plans she had or how she felt...He cried out to her...for her love and attention...

Mary...is our 1st example how to respond to Jesus. 

Think about how Mary responded to Him from the very moment she even heard He was coming? Self-sacrifice…Mary didn't say to the angel, "Yeah, but, I have plans! Can't God send the Savior after I'm married and have a few years to get settled?" She didn't say, "Well, you know this could get me killed?" She didn't say anything about herSELF…she just said…yes. 

Can you imagine Mary with an, "Infant Management Program" in place when Jesus was born? 

Can you imagine Mary teaching baby Jesus to, "Cry-it-out" and to "self-soothe"? 

Can you imagine Mary leaving baby Jesus to cry so that He wouldn't grow up to be too clingy to her? 

Can you imagine Mary sitting there with her friends chatting over coffee while baby Jesus cries in the playpen and Mary scoffing, "Oh, He just wants me to hold Him all the time! He has to learn that He's not the center of the universe!"

Can you imagine Mary hitting baby Jesus to teach Him not to touch things on her coffee table?

Can you imagine Mary making sure baby Jesus knows "who's boss"?

Can you imagine Mary making all of her plans about and for herself and just dragging Jesus around with her as an accessory?

Can you imagine Mary treating baby Jesus in any of the ways most people treat their children?

Can you imagine that being God's way of growing Jesus?

Jesus didn't come to earth as a full-grown man…in charge…a King. He came as a baby and began His relationship to mankind with that lesson.

Romans 1 tells us that God does everything with a purpose. Everything He's created shows us something about Him...about the truth. His coming to earth as a baby…was not without purpose. We are supposed to get something from that. And, not getting something from that…makes God mad because He made the lessons there obvious.

For we women...when we have a baby...that baby is a lesson from God as to how to respond to Him. And, He said, "as you've done it unto the least of these...you've done it unto me..." didn't He? That's huge!

Imagine...God calling out to you at 3am...and you're just too tired to "deal with Him." He needs to learn to cry out to you at times when you're not tired.

Imagine...God calling out to you on Saturday...but you have Him scheduled for attention on Sundays only? God needs to be regulated on a schedule for His own good so He'll…not disturb you when you're sleeping.

Imagine...God calling out for you and you just...turn that baby monitor off and let Him cry…He needs to be able to…go to sleep on His own…so that you can sleep.

Imagine...God calling out to you and you deciding that He needs to just learn that He is not the center of the universe…that you and your husband are the center of the family and God needs to remember that you…are…not…His…buddy (friend)…

The truth about all the old wives' tales about "holding your baby too much" and "picking the baby up when they cry"...and the truth about parenting programs like, "Preparation for Parenting"…the truth about books like, "On Becoming Babywise"…the truth about how to truly "Grow kids God's Way"...was shown to us on Christmas morning…and Romans 1 says that...we have no excuse...