I recently got back from a nerdy U.S. History trip to Virginia; three friends and I visited Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson, Colonial Williamsburg, an important location in the events leading up to the American Revolution, and Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in America. It was fantastic. I learned a lot about Thomas Jefferson's fascination with agriculture and just how brilliant he really was. I also sat in Patrick Henry's pew in the Episcopal church in Williamsburg -- I get goosebumps thinking about that! Anyway, it was amazing, and I have a deeper respect and admiration for the courage of the Founders. Check out this link for the text of Patrick Henry's famous and chillingly powerful "Give me liberty or give me death" speech!
It's been a long time since I believed that the Founding Fathers were a bunch of devout Christians who wanted to build the USA on the foundation of Evangelicalism. That's baloney, though we hear it preached just about every Independence Day. There were undoubtedly a few serious Christians in the group, but most of the Founders took as much (if not more) from the Enlightenment as they did from the Bible, and a great many, including Jefferson and Franklin, were Deists. But let me be clear: we can praise God that He created Jefferson and Franklin and all the others with the courage, intelligence, and desire to found a nation where we can pray for our lunch in public, read our Bibles on a park bench, and go to church in full view of policemen, without fear of persecution.So praise God that we have freedom to learn, and then learn about America's awesome history -- it really is amazing to realize that these men were willing to give up their lives for the nation they loved. And also praise God that we have freedom to share the Truth about Christ with those around us. Then go do it! Take advantage of the freedom you have, and tell your friends how they can have a relationship with the True God who reveals Himself in history and saves everyone who turns to Him in faith through Jesus Christ!
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24 comments:
That first picture reminds me of the J-bowl here on southern's campus... kinda.
Thanks for the laugh, making fun of Dr. C. August McGillicutty on my comments page, he's a figment of my cousin-in-law Scott's imagination. I'm glad you called him out.
Yes, I linked to you from Nikki's blog. I hope she's not the "most popular girl on campus" because that would suggest that we still have "popularity contests" which came in high school, and left in college. I was hoping that it wasn't back. ;)
Jonathan, Monticello (the first picture) was a lot smaller than I expected... it looks so much bigger on the back of a nickel somehow. If anything, the J-bowl is more impressive.
I mean, good grief, your cousin-in-law must have a passel of time on his hands to write 85 things under each category!
I guess that whole popularity thing is just my own insecurity, since Nikki gets dozens of comments while I get, oh, gosh... fives and fives of them on a good day! Guess I'll go eat worms... ;)
if anyone is like me, they are busy with te new school year. Its CRAZY!
We're busy wit te new yere but it won't keep us from a bloggin' aye
Hey here's a secret: put up a picture of yourself (or someone else) You can borrow the picture of all the studly navy guys from my blog if you want :) hee hee just as long as it's on your profile, people are more likely to click if they see a comment from you on someone else's blog (i.e. Nikki's).
Jonathan, are you making fun of my only loyal post-er? :p Allison, don't be discouraged; he's only a seminary guy! And he's from Georgia.
Would it be misleading to put up a picture of Penelope Cruz next to my name? I wish I were as fabulous as Penelope Cruz, but alas, I am only a short redhead, so perhaps her picture would attract more people to my blog. Ha!
Dang, I love pumpkin pie. I'm getting ready to go make some. Maybe I should blog about pumpkin pie, and encourage people to pray for its proliferation in all seasons, not just around Thanksgiving.
Have you ever noticed that "proliferation" can be read as "pro-life ration"? I think there's a deeper meaning there, don't you?
Blogdom seems to thrive on fluff. I haven't seen many blogs, but from my anecdotal observation (not statistically-significant research), the more serious and thoughtful a blog is, the fewer comments it is likely to evoke.
Ergo, Laura, your "fives and fives" of comments may just be a de facto acknowledgement that your posts need little further comment.
Or perhaps you are simply so profound that your readers are dazzled. I know mine certainly are. :rolleyes:
That said, it seems to me that much of what is widely heard in our culture would have been better left unsaid, while much that is generally, even vigorously, ignored is worthy of a wider hearing. Well might Solomon say of our blather-enamored e-culture, with its thoughtless forwards and vapid non sequiturs, "Vanity! Vanity! All is vanity!"
For my time, it's quite refeshing to read a few penetrating and astute remarks from time to time. Your blog is a home-tab my browser!
HAHA! WOW. Its my home tab as well... thankyou Laura. being your only loyal poster.... I guess cuz Im into this kinda stuff... Also I love hearing from people in colorado that I MISS SO MUCH! Have you heard from Blake? The last I heard of him was when he sent me his CDs. Oh well.. I can still listen to his beautiful voice... IT IS SO HOT HERE FOR OCTOBER! Today it hit like...90.. thats outrageous.. a coolfront is supposed to be comming in on Thurs. Pray that it does.
Man. Youre blog reminds me of my US history AP class... so friggin hard... right now were doing the gilded age, and like something progressive vs. populists. We saw a picture of a fat president today that got stuck in a bath tub. It was pretty funny.
I have a prayer request. My journalism class is kicking my butt right now! We are writing so many different feature stories, and there certain "journalism rules" that deal with grammar and wording and stuff, and it makes it a million times harder. But praise The Lord for one of my feature stories getting chosen to go into the newspaper! WAhoo! Thats so exctiting! Anyways.... I like the blog. Dont be discouraged that no one is commenting... The year is tense right now Ithink for alot of people.
Allison, would it help if I "edited" your blog comments, since I was an English major in college? ;) By the way, it cracked 90 here in L-ville as well, so I feel your pain.
Jonathan, how? How do I put up the stinking picture? I Picasa-ed one of myself to the point that I'm not ashamed to put it on my blog, but I can't figure out how to get it up there... grrr. I'm just not so technological.
For anyone who is curious, I made a pumpkin pie today. Sweet. Now I just need sommathat spray whipped cream and I'll be set up fo' sho'.
And dad, I'm way impressed that you used not one, but TWO Latin phrases in your last comment. Dang. And so many big words! Sweet.
And I'm always dazzled by your articles. :p
Off to bed.
Here's what I did: it may not work but you can try it - I think some computers work differently.
1. Pick up computer.
2. Toss out of window on 10th floor.
3. Buy new computer.
4. Spend 3 more hours trying to get picture uploaded.
5. Repeat steps 1-4.
That's what it felt like when I was getting my picture uploaded. okay now for the real instructions:
Upload the picture you want into a POST, then click "Save as draft". Then go back to the draft, click on "html" instead of "compose" and find the http: address from the draft. cut and paste the section between the "quotation marks" from http to the end of the address. paste it in the URL section of your profile. If that doesn't work, then go back to the draft and cut and paste the SECOND http address for the picture (there might be two).
I know it sounds complicated, but the stupid "hello" and "picasa" programs were nothing but a pain for me.
HEY My little sister is a short redhead, and one of my favorite people in the whole world! Who cares about Penelope? Not I.
If you get the profile pic to work, leave a comment on my blog so I can make sure to stop back by here!
Furthermore, not getting comments can in some ways be a blessing, because people stop by my blog often just to leave a comment to try and start an argument with the other commenters.
Your dad seems smart, and definitely computer savvy. Not only did he use latin terms; he figured out how to do italics on this blasted comment post (I still can't figure that out) AND he wrote :rolleyes: which is a really nifty way to textually convey paralanguage.
Plus, I like the "pro-life ration" observation.
Shoot. I followed Picture Uploading Instructions part one before I read your caveat... So what I'm trying to say is, you owe me a new computer. Kidding.
I'm getting psyched up to go try.
Wish me luck! Bon Voyage!
AND you go to night school to get a degree in paralanguage. Or was that paralegal?
HAHA.. Edit my blogs... you could if you wanted to... my grammar sucks when im typing a blog, or anything like that... but journalism rules are different! THEY ARE SO STUPID! In English, when you write a paper, youre supposed to use good vocabulary skills by using words that no one ever hears, and make it sound fluffy and pretty.... In journalism, its like... straight to the point no fluff, use words everyone can understand, and NEVER use a semi-colon. My teacher thinks its the devil. Man, shes convinced that there is no use for it... I beg to differ.. I use them, and she like.. counts off for them.... BAH! Whatev... I turned in another paper today, and she gave us another one... wahoo.. so now I have to go interview another person, and find an angle, and then write a lead before tommorrow... I have college night tonight... thats where i go to the racetrack, and all these colleges come and set up booths for Juniors and Seniors to go and look around and find colleges they might be interested in. Im not exactly sure what I want to major in yet. Im thinking psychology... I sorta wanna be a social worker. I wanna help people... but lately, everyone is telling me that I should major in english, or something like that. I like it.. im good at it... i just dont know if its the way that I want to go. I thought for a really long time that I wanted to major in music. I would want to do a performing type thing..... maybe composition or something like that... but where would i go from there? I dont have that great of a voice... the only thing that would keep me going is guitar... plus, I HATE MUSIC THEORY! Im pretty sure that Im going to major in psychology.
Hey, do you know anywhere where I could learn Hebrew? Id like to learn it. That would be sweet.
They teach Hebrew here at SBTS, in fact I was required to take it (but it was a fun class).
How's the picture schmicture upload going?
Paralanguage is another word for nonverbal communication.
Hebrew is not a paralanguage.
Schmebrew
AAAAARGH! Schmicture is RIGHT! Stupid thing just won't work at all, and I'm fixing to blaze off into a string of computer profanity... I think I will! Kids, hide your eyes.
@#!&*%^
So that wasn't a very long string, but you get my drift. Argh!
And part of the reason I'm an M.A. and not an M.Div. is so that I don't have to take Hebrew. Is that a bad thing to confess? I'm I going to get rebuked?
no.... i dont think so.... lol... So college night went great... there were a few colorado colleges, but like im going to pay 30,000 dollars a year to go to CU.... nope... and DU its more.... woo... but i found some great christian colleges that have good christian ministry oppurtunities, with psychology programs that are based of christian techniques... !SWEET! Im excited... Ive noticed that every college that I really would like to go to, is a private one.... EXPENSIVE... my parents are having a heart attack, but they know that my education is important to me.... (unlike my brother) So they are pushing me harder than ever to do well so i can get scholarships... wahh! I cant wait to start all the admissions stuff... oy... my kid days will soon be over.
"Paralanguage:" what a fascinating word! It seems to be a bit of a hybird term. The PARA apparently comes from Greek, meaning "next to" or "alongside," as in PARAKLETOS, the one "called alongside" us. Or, one might spell it "perilanguage," as in the Greek PERI, meaning "around" or "outside of."
However, since the whole realm of meaning referenced by the term paralanguage is nonverbal communication, it might be more accurate to call usage such a :rolleyes: "cybersomalanguage" instead: cyber, because it is used exclusively in e-speech via the internet; and soma, because it is specifically nonverbal body language. Alternatively, you could just call it "cyberkinesics," since "kinesics" its itself a term referring to facial expressions and gestures as a form of informal nonverbal language.
Did you come up "paralanguage" yourself? Hoot, man! Another verbivore! To extrapolate freely, paradoxical though it may seem, necessitates a tangential rather than an elliptical approach . . .
my good ness... I had to read that last little paragraph like 20 times before i even semi got it... maybe i shouldnt major in english... did that even make sense? Tangential made me laugh... i think cuz one time, a good friend told me that my mind was tangential..... it made sense to me b/c of math... ahhh... tangents... cosign... blahblahblah... no more math... NO MORE. I was wrongfully put into a math class this year for kids who failed the state curriculum based test, and i didnt fail it... so i dont know why im in there... but oh well... IT IS AN EASY 'A' in a class that i HATE! math sucks.. Im so good at everything else except for it.. not a big deal.... Whats Dave up to? Havent heard from him in a while.
Allison, check out Dave's blog. A relatively recent post therein may update you.
Laura put a link to it on here. She called it "My brother Dave who is soooo funny . . ." or something like that.
Yea, thanks, I just checked it out... him and his new photo software.... lucky... this post has almost become a chat room... lol....lol.... i commented on his blog.
fyi, Allison, Picasa is free. Google it.
wow, thats cool.... its still neat that hes got it, and likes it.
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