Monday, November 19, 2007

November 19, 1863

Today is the 144 anniversary of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.
In veiw of that I thought you might be interested
in a speech/essay I wrote for my forensics class three years ago...
*
*
‘Four score and seven years ago’ begins the well known quote. But how many of us know the story behind it?
In June of 1863, the Civil War had dragged on for two years, eradicating the hopes of both Southerners and Northerners that the war would be only a ‘breakfast spell’. Confederate General Robert E. Lee conceived a bold plan to crush the Union hopes and demoralize the support of the war by making the northern people feel that it was to big a price to pay. The Plan? He would march north into Pennsylvania, drawing the Union Army of the Potomac after him to destroy it. After which a peace treaty would be offered to Federal President Abraham Lincoln, who without an army, would be at the mercy of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. The Union and Confederate armies, the former under the command of George Meade and the latter under Robert E. Lee, meet at a little crossroads town. The fighting lasted three days. The climax came on the last day, when the Confederates sent 15,000 men, under the command of George Pickett, across open fields to assault entrenched Union soldiers at the top of Cemetery Ridge. This attack, known to history as Pickett’s Charge, failed to take the Ridge and left 10,000 men dead on the field. The Battle of Gettysburg, ending with the culmination of Pickett’s Charge was the turning point of the Civil War. The Confederacy was weakened and they never regained the supremacy they had lost. But only those of us who see the Civil War in retrospect realize the consequences that this battle had on the Confederacy and the Union. To the grieving families in the North and South, they only knew that, because of this battle, 51,000 of their fathers, their husbands, their sons and brothers were gone. On November 19, a cemetery for these dead was consecrated, on the land for which they had fought. It was at this consecration that Abraham Lincoln delivered his speech. He asked the remaining soldiers and people of the North to be dedicated to the unfinished work of the fallen soldiers,-that, in his own words, ‘these dead shall not have died in vain-that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom,- and that Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish for the earth.’

Thursday, November 15, 2007

From the Office of the.......Scientist

To all members of the Midwest,

It is now
-officially-
too cold to run errands without
a coat on.

This decision has been arrived at after
much observation, experiment and deduction.
We have now entered the phrase
of taking ten minutes to bundled up
before leaving the house for five minutes.

Please heed this warning!!!

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Facing the Gaints...

Best scene in the movie!


All right, Who's next?

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Douglas Bond

A couple of years ago,
I found a series of Books by Douglas Bond.


They are about the M'Kethe family
who are Scottish Covenanters.
They fight for 'the King and Kirk'
translated from the Scotch that means:
Jesus Christ and his church.

At the end of the series,
because of persecution and
the death of a beloved family member
the M'Kethes emigrate to America.

The series ended in '05
and I was sorry that I couldn't
look forward to any more installments.

This spring,
Douglas Bond published the first book
in the Faith and Freedom trilogy.


It's picks up the story of the M'Kethes
in America almost 100 years later.

I must admit the story didn't
intrigue me as much as the first three did,
BUT....
there was a chapter that almost made me cry...
And as that is rather difficult to do,
I thought I'd share it with you
and see what ya'll thought.

Unfortunately,
it's very long all typed up
so I cut and pieced some of it together,
if you want or have the time to read it:)

The background of the chapter
is that Ian and his family have just
heard Jonathon Edwards preach
Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God.
Which if you haven't read
-and have the time-
you can follow the link
and read it.

But without further ado,
here are excerpts of the chapter....
It's will be pasted together
so it might not make total sense...

EDIT:After trying to post, blogger's not allowing it
so it must be too long,
so look in the post below for the quote




The Quote!!

“I have never been more terrified, Grandfather, I could feel the flames.”


“Aye, Lad. Feel the flames,’ said his grandfather, “Most young men’s problem, Ian, is that they donnae feel the flames. Young men think so much of their strength and enjoyments of the world that they’re in sore danger of becoming, as one great divine had it, “Sermon proof and sickness proof.”


‘All this is very good, lad,’ said his grandfather. ‘It is the spirit of God graciously doing a law work

in yer heart, What must ye do? There is but one thing, lad. Jesus, alone, stands ready to save ye.

‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved,’ says the Word of Christ. It doesnae say be baptized as an infant, live a mortal life, have a form of religion. It says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It says “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.’


‘But I thought I believed all this,’ said Ian. “so why then do I feel as I do?”

‘So ye do, lad, but ye cannae have it both ways. Israel believed in God but made the mistake of seeking all in the corn and wine of present happiness. Ye must be like Jacob to Pharaoh when he said, ‘ I am a stranger, and a sojourner’ in Egypt. Ye too must be a pilgrim, a stranger in this country if ye would be a Christian, ye must be like Moses who chose ‘rather to suffer affliction with the people of God then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.’ Like him ye must forsake Egypt, lad, and seek a heavenly country. Ye must seek first Christ’s Kingdom and righteousness.

Ye see, lad, believing on Jesus Christ means seeking him alone, hoping in him alone, living in him alone, worshipping him alone. Israel wanted to believe in God and worship idols; she wanted to believe in God but seek happiness in the things of Canaan.So we in New England are in danger of trusting in the work of our own hands, of pitching our hopes on our own prosperity.


And I’m thinking ye do the same, lad. But ye cannae have it both ways. Ye must in all things seek heavenly happiness and so ye must walk in the way that leads to heaven, the way of holiness. And Ye must ken that the land ye are traveling through on this pilgrimage is a wilderness, just as the lands west are untamed and wild, with mountains, rocks and rough places, so the way of holiness is an ascending way that requires effort and strength, self-denial, and determination. And such a road ye must begin early and throughout yer life bend all yer strength, pressing on toward heaven. Ye see, lad, the way of holiness must be your first concern; its destination-heaven- must be ever in yer thoughts. Ye muct hunger and thirst after righteousness, reaching forward, pressing onward ‘toward the mark, for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.’


‘And here lies the test. All other concern of life must be entirely, subordinate to the aim of getting to yer journey’s end. All temporal enjoyments: money, gifts, ambitions must be employed as mere helps along the journey. So often these things clog and hinder a man in his journey and he comes to seek first these fading baubles that lie all about us here in self-reliant Connecticut. But donnae do that , lad. Anything that clogs and hinders ye on the way, ye must leave off then and there. Thus, lad, in all yer eating and drinking, talking and laughing, buying and selling, in whatever business ye are setting about, ye must ask yerself if it will forward ye on yer way to heaven. And if not, ye must quit all and press on in the strength of Christ yer Redeemer and his blessed Holy Spirit.”


As Ian listened, he thought how much his grandfather sounded like Mr. Edwards and how much both of their words sounded like the words of the Bible. And with those words he felt for the first time his heart awakened to his sinfulness and peril, like never before his longing for Christ and Salvation inflamed, his fears assuaged, and his desire for heaven so keen that it cut his soul as with a knife.


“God made ye for himself,” continued the old man, “and he made ye for heaven. Here in the wilderness ye must glorify and enjoy God, but ye only do so in a most imperfect manner. Aye, but in heaven ye will do all perfectly, because God made ye for heaven. So ye must daily grow in the way to heaven, to the knowledge of Christ, to the beauty of Christ, and to the Excellency of divine things.

Ye see, lad, God is the highest good of reasonable creatures, of these made in God’s image. And the good things of this world are but scattered beams of heaven, but God is the Sun. these are but Streams, but God is the fountain. These are but drops, but God is the ocean. God orders the sun to shine, the clouds and thunder and rain, the wonder of planting and harvesting, civil government, family joys and sorrows, even war- he orders all that he might lead us to heaven. Therefore Ian seek first God’s Kingdom and ye will find yer proper end: Salvation, holiness, happiness and heaven.”

Thursday, November 1, 2007

K-K-Katie...the only girl that I adore!

My big sister is having a birthday today.
This One:
Isn't she Pretty?
She's a sister in a million, one of the best.
She's very talented,
with her violin and the computer (among other things)
Everybody depends on her because she doesn't let them down.
She's even willing to dress up, because her little sister asks her too:


She helps us with our sewing, our computers, the internet,
especially in confusing places such as ebay :)
She laughs with us, and at us, and we laugh at her-all in all it's a good deal!
Love you!
And Happy Birthday, m'dear!