The U.S. Supreme court ruled today that the ban against “partial birth abortion” passed by congress in 2003 is constitutional and the law stands. This is only the first step on the long road to saving millions of lives thrown away in this country.

Less that 10% of the abortions performed will be effected by the law. “Partial birth” is only used in late term abortions (when many of the babies could survive outside the womb, if given the chance).

There have been over a million abortions a year performed in the U.S. for the last thirty years or so. Over thirty million lives tossed out with yesterday’s paper because they were an inconvenience. We have a long way to go to stomp out legalized infanticide, but today, we made a step in the right direction.

Please send all hate-mail to my email address (darkmanwork@hotmail.com) where it will be conveniently filtered and thrown away before I see it… kind of like an unwanted child.

Things are picking up around our house. Rehearsals for the spring musical have begun. We’re working hard on a short schedule, meeting four times a week for three hour rehearsals. This year’s musical “A.D.” is very different from previous shows. It’s very… um… abstract. Curious? Come check it out. We’re performing at 6:30 pm on Saturday, April 14th, and in both Sunday morning services on Sunday, April 15th.

Something new this year too. During spring break, March 11th through the 17th, our church is doing a “family mission trip”. So, no particular age group. We’ve got people signed up from age 6 to age 77. We’re taking about 150 folks to New Orleans to do demolition and construction in the 9th ward.

I’m on a team with two other adults (including Tammy) and five teenagers and we are tasked with tearing down two houses (to the frames) in a week. It’s going to be hard, nasty, and potentially dangerous work.

Please pray for both the stage performances and the trip. We’ll need all the help we can get.

I recently wrote a post about “Fox Faith”. I didn’t really state an opinion for or against. I just expressed my skepticism and left it at that.

RealLivePreacher, on the other hand, pulled no punches. I like, RLP, but in the interest of full disclosure, I should say that I don’t always agree with him. He’s leads what I would refer to as a “hippy church” down near San Antonio. He’s got a pretty liberal, isolationist stance (speaking of Christianity, not politics). I like his style, but don’t always agree with his doctrine. With that said, take a look at his opinion of Fox Faith.

I got an email today alerting me to the release of a new “family friendly” movie coming out this week called, “The Ultimate Gift”. In perusing the website I noticed the link to “Fox Faith Movies”. And me thinks, “Wha? Faith? Movies? Is this Godlywood!?”

Sure enough, Fox has launched a “Christian” distribution branch and has a pretty nice site that highlight lots of “faith-based” movies.

You may notice I’ve used an unusually large amount of “quotation marks” in this post. That’s be cause I’m always a little “cautious” when it comes to “Hollywood” taking on the “Christian” moniker. That, and I’ve always enjoyed making “quoty fingers” when I talk.

They say bad habits are hard to break, but for me, it’s harder to make good ones.

I’m doing pretty good on my commitment to memorize a verse a week. I must admit, I am a week behind, but the good news is that I had already memorized this week’s verse a few years ago.

Eph. 2:8-9 (From memory, I swear!) “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not of yourself, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one may boast.”

But last weeks verse is still not tucked into my memory yet.

Acts 3:19 “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.”

I haven’t figured out a good way to review all the previous verses each week to make sure they stay fresh in my mind. I wrote the references on my wall calendar, but that’s only good for the current month.

Now, if I could just get my body working as hard as my brain, I’ll be ship shape in no time.

Yeah, I know. Call me a fool. I set goals for myself every year. Once in a while I meet a few of those goals. I guess that makes me a weakling and a fool. So be it.

This year, I have a goal to memorize a verse of the Bible every week. God’s word is a sword and every believer should keep is sword sharp and close at hand. I’ve created a page of the verses I intend to memorize this year and I welcome anyone to join me.

Clicky clicky.

I’d nearly forgotten about my new poll feature! So, let me know how you really feel.

Let me be the first to wish you all a satisfactory non-denominational, capitalist, winter-time, gift-giving season.

Once again, there is a lot of hubbub over whether or not retailers use “Christmas” in their marketing. Last year the pendulum seemed to hit the far left and was pushed back to the right. “Holiday Trees”? Seriously, that’s just dumb. But a few Christian organizations continue to push this year. Is it really necessary?

You guys know that I’m pretty far out on the “Religious Right” end of spectrum, but I like to think that I can still use my head and be reasonable. I’m on the mailing list of the American Family Association. They’re about as for right as you can get and sometimes, they go farther than I am willing to follow. Today the AFA invited me to vote in a poll, “Would you be willing to boycott stores which refuse to allow the word “Christmas” to be displayed?” I voted “No.”

I am willing to boycott companies, but there has to be a very solid reason and I need to see evidence from more than one source. I prefer to avoid Wal-Mart because I believe that their business practices are damaging to the economy and empowering China. I will not buy any Ford products because Ford is currently spending millions to further the homosexual agenda. (Yes, I own a Ford that I bought used, ten years ago. But Ford makes no money off of me. I buy after-market parts and never go to a Ford mechanic.)

But what about “Holiday” retailers? Well, honestly, this is the holiday season. Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years are all part of the holiday shopping season. Yes, most of our money goes toward Christmas gifts, but what about Hanukah (or Hanukkah, or Chanukah, or Ckhanukhkhahh or how ever you spell it.) It’s a valid, gift-giving, religious holiday. What about Ramadan? What about the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe? What about Eat A Red Apple Day or Ice Cream and Violins Day or National Chocolate Covered Anything Day? (Seriously.)

I’m not trying to belittle Christmas. But if a corporation does not market itself as a Christian organization, then why would you expect it to single out a Christian holiday?

Some would say that these companies make a fortune off of Christmas gift sales. True. And if you don’t like that, then quit spending so much on Christmas gifts! Tell your kids they’re not getting Molest-Me Elmo or the Nintendo PeePee for Christmas. Instead they’re going to spend Christmas serving food at a homeless shelter or playing dominos at a nursing home. That’ll show those anti-Christmas, capitalist jerks.

As for me, I love Christmas and I enjoy being a capitalist. But I’m still not buying a Nintendo PeePee.

Update: In November 2006, just days before the start of the holiday shopping season (Coincidence? I think not.) Wal-Mart issued a statement saying that they have chosen to “remain neutral” in social matters and will not give money to organizations with political motives. The AFA has lifted its boycott, but I’m still not spending my money there. It is possible to not shop there. Trust me.

Since dear old Sam Walton died, Wal-Mart has gone from a “Made in the U.S.A”, grass roots, apple pie company to the most (deservedly) vilified corporation in America. 1) Wal-Mart pumps billions of dollars into the sweat-shop industries of the worlds largest human rights violator (China). 2) Wal-Mart unashamedly destroys small town economies. And now, as if conservative Christian Americans needed any more reason to hate the company, 3) Wal-Mart jumped on the homosexual band wagon.

“In an unprecedented push, Wal-Mart Stores has hired a gay-marketing shop, joined the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce and begun discussions with activist groups about extending domestic-partnership benefits to its employees.”

According to an article in Advertising Age, Wal-Mart has jumped in with both feet wanting to cash in on the lucrative gay market.

“The steps being taken by Wal-Mart are the strongest signal yet that the company may be taking a permanent stand on the side of gay rights, despite the inevitable lambasting from right-wing conservative groups, such as the Family Research Council and the American Family Association.”

In other words, Wal-Mart is shouting from the roof tops, “Hey middle America! We don’t care what you think. We’re going to make our money any way we can. And we are confident that you will continue to buy our cheap Chinese crap because you’ve already proven to be a bunch of ignorant cattle. So screw you, America! Have a nice day and come again!”

So, have you had enough yet? I have. Until now, I’ve “avoided” Wal-Mart, which is to say, I only shop there when I’m not sure where else to go to find what I need. (Where else do you go when you want to buy a Frisbee or a 50 gallon trash can?) Well, no more. I’m done. (My wife’s going to hate me for this.)

You might be thinking, “How can you not shop at Wal-Mart?” Well, if that’s true, then Wal-Mart is right and we really are a bunch of ignorant cattle. The reason Wal-Mart is what it is today is because we’ve all been to lazy and cheap to face up to their crappy business practices. “Moo!” I say! “Moo!” I will moo no more!

Join me! Let Wal-Mart know that you will moo no more! Contact your local Wal-Mart and the Wal-Mart corporate office:

Rob Walton, Chairman
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
702 Southwest 8th Street
Bentonville, AR 72716
Primary Phone: 1-800-925-6278
Fax: 479-277-2473
E-Mail: Rob Walton, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

I don’t like to bring sad news to my blog. It is, in its very nature, a place to laugh, but I don’t feel much like laughing today.

Last night, we got a phone call that we’d been expecting. One of our “kids”, Rachel, called to let us know her dad went home. He was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor a month or so ago. Rachel, an 8th grader in our youth group, lives with her mom, but was very close to her dad. She’s been dealing with depression, frustration, and anger (as anyone would) since the diagnosis and Tammy and I have done all we could to love and encourage her and her mom.

Just past midnight, we headed over to Rachel’s grandmother’s house where he had been living under hospice care. We hung out until about 3 AM when the mortuary folks came and took his body.

Tammy’s never experienced death up close. It’s probably the topic she’s most uncomfortable with and I was curious to see how she would handle the situation. She was perfect.

I firmly believe that God uses bad situations to accomplish good things. I think that last night was the best possible way to expose Tammy to this part of life. Since she was not related to the person who died (in fact, we never even met the guy) she didn’t have to deal with her own feelings of loss. Instead she was able to focus her energy on loving those who were hurting. She was exposed to the experience without having to experience it. I’m confident that this will give her what she needs to deal with the experience herself down the road.

It’s funny how our culture has such a hard time with death. I’ve seen cemeteries in Europe where people sit and eat lunch among the tombs as they would in a city park. In some cultures, funerals are celebrations of either a life well lived or a passage into a better existence than ours. In some cultures (sadly), death is praised as an admirable service to god and country, a tool of war.

But here, we avoid it at all costs. We shutter when we drive by a cemetery. We spend most of our life, and a good chunk of our income, trying to cheat death, trying to stay young, anything to keep us from the thought that we will ever die. Why is that?

Personally, I prefer the teachings of Paul: “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” I don’t look forward to the process of dying. I know that there are folks who will be very sad when I’m gone. But ultimately, I know that death will be a victory. I know that when I leave this body, I will stand in the presence of God, full of praise and joy that will never end. If you don’t have that same knowledge, I would love to share it with you.