With Liberty and Justice for All...

I listened to Chuck Swindoll today while a shopping expedition that rendered very little. He told a very interesting story about Senator John McCain. As a school teacher and as an American it had special meaning for me.


From a speech made by Capt. John S. McCain, USN, (Ret) who represents Arizona in the U.S. Senate:

As you may know, I spent five and one half years as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. In the early years of our imprisonment, the NVA kept us in solitary confinement or two or three to a cell. In 1971 the NVA moved us from these conditions of isolation into large rooms with as many as 30 to 40 men to a room. This was, as you can imagine, a wonderful change and was a direct result of the efforts of millions of Americans on behalf of a few hundred POWs 10,000 miles from home.


One of the men who moved into my room was a young man named Mike Christian.


Mike came from a small town near Selma, Alabama. He didn't wear a pair of shoes until he was 13 years old. At 17, he enlisted in the US Navy. He later earned a commission by going to Officer Training School. Then he became a Naval Flight Officer and was shot down and captured in 1967.


Mike had a keen and deep appreciation of the opportunities this country-and our military-provide for people who want to work and want to succeed. As part of the change in treatment, the Vietnamese allowed some prisoners to receive packages from home. In some of these packages were handkerchiefs, scarves and other items of clothing. Mike got himself a bamboo needle. Over a period of a couple of months, he created an American flag and sewed on the inside of his shirt.


Every afternoon, before we had a bowl of soup, we would hang Mike's shirt on the wall of the cell and say the Pledge of Allegiance. I know the Pledge of Allegiance may not seem the most important part of our day now, but I can assure you that in that stark cell it was indeed the most important and meaningful event.


One day the Vietnamese searched our cell, as they did periodically, and discovered Mike's shirt with the flag sewn inside, and removed it. That evening they returned, opened the door of the cell, and for the benefit of all us, beat Mike Christian severely for the next couple of hours. Then, they opened the door of the cell and threw him in. We cleaned him up as well as we could.


The cell in which we lived had a concrete slab in the middle on which we slept. Four naked light bulbs hung in each corner of the room. As I said, we tried to clean up Mike as well as we could. After the excitement died down, I looked in the corner of the room, and sitting there beneath that dim light bulb with a piece of red cloth, another shirt and his bamboo needle, was my friend, Mike Christian. He was sitting there with his eyes almost shut from the beating he had received, making another American flag.


He was not making the flag because it made Mike Christian feel better. He was making that flag because he knew how important it was to us to be able to pledge allegiance to our flag and our country.


So the next time you say the Pledge of Allegiance, you must never forget the sacrifice and courage that thousands of Americans have made to build our nation and promote freedom around the world. You must remember our duty, our honor, and our country.


"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."


John McCain

All Plus One- The Permanent "It"

I love finding new stuff. One of my favorite webpages is Family Life. They have such a wide variety of resources for singles. I get disappointed at times with ministries that quickly clump "College and Singles" together because the older I get the more I don't fit in that puzzle. Family Life has done an excellent job providing quality resources and texts for single adults- minus all that college business. I ran across this fun article today though- here is the link.

Loneliness- Wanting an "It"

This article made me both laugh and cry- it sounds alot like something Christy and I would do. Naming the odious missing "It" in our lives. It harbors a very interesting concept though. The meaning of the word alone means 'all plus one'. So to make it personal you can interpret it as "All of Him plus one of me" (read the article). The article hit home though... over and over again. Hopefully the link will remain active for a while. This concept was taken from Wendy Widder's book Living Whole Without the Better Half. Might make a good read sometime. One of my other favorite things from Family Life is the Singles Suggestion list. I love this- I don't know why- I'm wierd that way. Here is the list though.

Singles Tips

Some of these could be fun... pottery(#1)? Try imagining Heaven(#31)! I'm committing to number 11 this week. I'm jumping around in the list though- it's a little bit more fun that way!

At It Again- A Word of Warning...

Just in case... someone is reading this... don't expect some profound thought or revelation. This place is a place for me to 'gather' things together to revisit and keep up with. You are welcome to look and even interact- but don't come holding ANY expectations! Those last two YouTubes are some of my favorite current songs. Take a minute and soak in the words- it could change your day!

Lol...

On that happy note (or disclaimer) I am going to provide a link to a message I heard last week and this on WMIT. It was very good- from the "Covenant of Grace" ministry from a church in Matthews NC. It is called "We Three Kings- The Magi". I don't know how long the messages will be available at this link, but maybe someone can benefit from it. It really makes you reconsider the Magi- who they were and what they really meant for you and me. I guess it was really special too because as I listened to the message on the radio I gazed at my advent calendar in the dim light of the multi-colored Christmas lights on my tree. My advent calendar depicts the Magi and the Christ Child. What a memory to have... I hold it in a special place. Here is the link... the message is a two parter.

"Covenant of Grace"

Joy Williams- Here With Us

This is one of my new favorite Christmas songs. The image of Mary rocking her Savior is one I that burns in my memory.

Give me Jesus