Poisoned Candy

One of the scariest days for some parents is Halloween. The fear is not of demons or witches, but of tainted candy. However it is not a factual fear. Joel Best of the University of Delaware studied this issue, going back to 1958. He found no report of a child being killed by tainted Halloween candy. Nothing wrong with being safe and using common sense. However I dislike the use of irrational fear to direct actions. Many things are possible but not probable. For those who need something to fear and also like candy corn:

Song of the Day

Mother
Pink Floyd

Dedicated to all who struggle with fear (may you break down the walls)

Mother, do you think they'll drop the bomb?
Mother, do you think they'll like this song?
Mother, do you think they'll try to break my balls?
Mother, should I build the wall?
Mother, should I run for President?
Mother, should I trust the government?
Mother, will they put me in the firing line?
Is it just a waste of time?

Hush now baby, baby, don't you cry
Momma's gonna make all of your nightmares come true
Momma's gonna put all of her fears into you
Momma's gonna keep you right here under her wing
She won't let you fly, but she might let you sing
Momma's will keep Baby cozy and warm
Oooo Babe
Oooo Babe
Ooo Babe, of course Momma's gonna help build the wall

Mother, do you think she's good enough
For me?
Mother, do you think she's dangerous
To me?
Mother will she tear your little boy apart?
Mother, will she break my heart?

Hush now baby, baby, don't you cry
Momma's gonna check out all your girlfriends for you
Momma won't let anyone dirty get through
Momma's gonna wait up until you get in
Momma will always find out where you've been
Momma's gonna keep Baby healthy and clean
Oooo Babe
Oooo Babe
Ooo Babe, you'll always be Baby to me

Mother, did it need to be so high? 

Where Was This Google All This Time

More from William Kamkwamba, the boy who built a windmill from a picture and brought electricity to his village.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
William Kamkwamba
www.thedailyshow.com

What can you do with the abundant resources that you have?

Song of the Day

Grace
U2

Dedicated to Dry Bones and everyone making a difference

Grace
She takes the blame
She covers the shame
Removes the stain
It could be her name

Grace
It's a name for a girl
It's also a thought that
Changed the world

And when she walks on the street
You can hear the strings
Grace finds goodness
In everything

Grace
She's got the walk
Not on a ramp or on chalk
She's got the time to talk

She travels outside
Of karma, karma
She travels outside
Of karma

When she goes to work
You can hear the strings
Grace finds beauty
In everything

Grace
She carries a world on her hips
No champagne flute for her lips
No twirls or skips
Between her fingertips

She carries a pearl
In perfect condition
What once was hurt
What once was friction
What left a mark
No longer stings

Because grace makes beauty
Out of ugly things

Grace finds beauty
In everything

Grace finds goodness
In everything

Write a Book

On occasion, it has been suggested to me that I might write a book. I am not adverse to the to this project, however there is something more important. Whether or not I every write a book, I want to be a book. I want my life to be read as a witness to the power of God.


2 Corinthians 3.3
You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

May my life reflect in its fragile imperfection the glory that can only come form being shaped by  the art of the hands of God.


Song of the Day
The Poem of Your life
Michael Card

Dedicated to all who walk the path of a disciple



Life is a song we must sing with our days
A poem with meaning more than words can say
A painting with colors no rainbow can tell
A lyric that rhymes either heaven or hell
We are living letters that doubt desecrates
We're the notes of the song of the chorus of faith
God shapes every second of our little lives
And minds every minute as the universe waits by

The pain and the longing
The joy and the moments of light
Are the rhythm and rhyme
The free verse of the poem of life

So look in the mirror and pray for the grace
To tear off the mask, see the art of your face
Open your ear lids to hear the sweet song
Of each moment that passes and pray to prolong
Your time in the ball of the dance of your days
Your canvas of colors of moments ablaze
With all that is holy
With the joy and the strife
With the rhythm and rhyme of the poem of your life
With the rhythm and rhyme of the poem of your life

World Champion

If I were going to be a world champion at something, I would want to be world champion at something like the guy in the following video:



There should always be people who do not get it and ask, "Why?"

Song of the Day

Dedicated to all who live in the paradox of confusion

Running to Stand Still
U2

And so she woke up
Woke up from where she was lying still
Said I got to do something
About where we're going
Step on a steam train
Step out of the driving rain
Maybe run from the darkness in the night

Singing ha la la la de day
Ha la la la de day ha la la de day

Sweet the sin
Bitter the taste in my mouth
I see seven towers
But I only see one way out
You got to cry with out weeping
Talk without speaking
Scream without raising your voice
You know I took the poison from the poison stream
Then I floated out of here

Singing ha la la la de day
Ha la la la de day ha la la de day

She runs through the streets
With her eyes painted red
Under a black belly of cloud in the rain
In through a doorway she brings me
White gold and pearls stolen from the sea
She is raging, she is raging
And the storm blows up in her eyes
She will suffer the needle chill
She is running to stand still

Batman

Saw this today.
Saw this and laughed out loud.
Saw this and thought of Casey Mott!
:D

Song of the Day
Even Better Than the Real Thing
U2

Dedicated to Casey Mott

Give me one more chance
And youll be satisfied
Give me two more chances
You wont be denied

Well my heart is where its always been
My head is somewhere in between
Give me one more chance
Let me be your lover tonight

(check it out)

Youre the real thing
Yeah the real thing
Youre the real thing
Even better than the real thing
Child...

Give me one last chance
And Im gonna make you sing
Give me half a chance
To ride on the waves that you bring

Youre honey child to a swarm of bees
Gonna blow right through you like a breeze
Give me one last dance
Well slide down the surface of things

Youre the real thing
Yeah the real thing
Youre the real thing
Even better than the real thing
Child...

Were free to fly the crimson sky
The sun wont melt our wings tonight

Oh now...here she comes

Take me higher
Take me higher
You take me higher
You take me higher

Youre the real thing
Yeah the real thing
Youre the real thing
Even better than the real thing
Even better than the real thing
Even better than the real thing

Living with Hope

It is a fine balance; living with hope, expecting more and better and at the same time being content with what you have. I want to be dissatisfied with what is wrong, not settling for things to remain just as they are and at the same time to be excited by what could and not dissatisfied with the way they turn out at the present.

It has to be hope. Hope allows us to know the best is yet to come and yet to wait patiently since we live with the assurance that it will come. That is why we need our young. They still have the ability to live in the present but to look forward with hope. They can see what is and dream of what could be.

Noah captured this spirit perfectly this morning. We have been getting a hint of fall in the last few days. It has been cooler in the morning, the humidity lessening in its oppression. This morning it was 64 degrees. Also we have had a steady downpour since early morning. As we were getting ready for church Noah said, "If it was only 37 degrees cooler it would be snowing!" If you do not live south of the I30 snow barrier you might not understand the full impact of this expectation. In 17 years in Tyler we have never had a snowstorm and only flurries of snow on rare occasions. It is hope that allows Noah see what could be.

As Christians our hope is not just what could be, be what will. We look to that day. The greatest moment in time is yet to be, but it will come. I will see you on that day.

Song of the Day

I Still Haven't Found What I Am Looking For
U2

Dedicated to the new college freshman. May you dream and hope for what can and will be.

I have climbed highest mountains
I have run through the fields
Only to be with you
Only to be with you
I have run
I have crawled
I have scaled these city walls
These city walls
Only to be with you

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for

I have kissed honey lips
Felt the healing in her fingertips
It burned like a fire
(I was) burning inside her

I have spoke with the tongue of angels
I have held the hand of a devil
It was warm in the night
I was cold as a stone

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for

I believe in the Kingdom Come
Then all the colors will bleed into one
Bleed into one
But yes I'm still running

You broke the bonds
And you loosed the chains
Carried the cross
Of my shame
Oh my shame
You know I believe it

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for

On Her Birthday

Today is the day, October 3, on which my mother was born. I honor her memory today with a story...

When I was about to get married my mom gave me a wrapped present. It was a small, jewelry type box. I opened it to find two small strips of cloth. She asked, "Do you know what those are?" Since I had no idea I responded, "No." She went on to tell me they were the apron strings. She then explained that she understood that I was starting my family. She was "cutting the apron strings. She expected for my loyalty to be to my new wife and future kids. She gave me permission to put my family before her, my dad and my siblings. She had loved me and now she was setting me free to love as I had never done before.

28 years of marriage and 5 kids later, this remains one of the greatest gifts I ever received. May I bless others in similar ways. May I continue to show the love to others that you showed to me. May I continue to grow love in my family that I first learned from you. May I release it in the next generation.

Song of the Day

Love Grows Love
Caedmon's Call

Dedicated to mom

you said to “put on a happy face”
on a high school stage
but I read what you really meant
in your handwriting on a Bible page
you waited like you told me
though we knew it right away,
it took eight and a half more years
to finally say

I fell in love with you
and that love became something new
it keeps getting stronger
than we ever could have longed
love keeps growing more love

when we got the news
we had to call our families
and start painting the room
a nice, bright blue
our vows they started breathing
and they took on flesh and blood
and we held them in our arms
and tasted God was good

I fell in love with you
and that love became something new
it added a name and it added a smile
it keeps getting bigger every further mile
there on your bended knee
we sewed the seeds of our history
they’re coming up stronger
than we ever could have longed
love keeps growing more love

if love is an echo of the heart
the heart is a canyon
that stretches wild and free
without an end
and breaks through every wall
that holds us in

I’m on the other side of the world
to see what changed you so
my heart breaks with the broken
and it dances with the hope
you told me I would find here
but I could not understand
until I’m walking here beside you
hand in hand