In Charleston, South Carolina, a little boy about four years old walked over, looked up at me and said, “You are little!” I said to the pastor standing beside me, “What did he say?” The pastor said, “It sounds like he said, “You are little!” It made the boy feel good since he was so short. But it humbled me. It made me think.
We should look at our biggest giant or mountain and say, “You are little! You are little compared to the God inside of me!” It will humble any mountain or giant to fall. What mountain or giant will the Lord raise you up to stand on top of this coming year? What stormy seas will He cause you to walk on?
On the sea of Galilee, famous for storms, I asked the Lord a question. “Lord, are we near the place where Peter got out of the boat and walked on the raging sea before he fell?” The Lord answered me. “What do you mean Peter fell? This is the sea where Peter walked!” As though He didn’t remember Peter falling. Peter sank but he walked on water. The eleven sat in the boat living in regret. The terror of that storm paralyzed them. They missed that once in a lifetime opportunity. Sinking is better than sitting. When life is over we won’t regret taking a risk for God and sinking. We will regret sitting. And God won’t remember us sinking.
A few weeks ago, I posted an article about P2V or Pets 2 Vets. That organization is centered in the Washington, DC area. They continue to do great work bringing great dogs and our military heroes together for an increased quality of life!
Now there is an organization in the Southwestern part of the country. Soldier’s Best Friend (SBF) is a 501(C)3 tax exempt non-profit corporation based in Phoenix, AZ.
We (SBF) are devoted to helping our veterans and the pet overpopulation problem. Our staff is comprised of active military members, a combat veteran, practicing PTSD therapists, professional service dog trainers, a veterinarian, and many other great volunteers. To learn more about our staff click here.
We are now accepting applications to consider your placement with a Service Dog or Therapeutic Companion Dog. To apply now click here
All placement and training fees are no cost to the veteran. The veteran will be responsible for transportation and housing costs (if needed).
Soldiers are like you and me …
They’re PEOPLE!
Veterans diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, have issues with panic attacks, depression, nightmares, anxiety and reclusive behavior, Burnham said.
“Once they get their dog, they have to take it for a walk, so that in itself gets them out there,” he said. “And they’re more comfortable going into crowds, because they have their buddy with them.”
Training is done with the soldiers and dogs, and is composed of private and group sessions one to two days a week for up to 30 weeks at the Disabled American Veterans Hall at 8447 N. 61st Ave. in Glendale.
All of the dogs will receive basic obedience training, and some will be taught additional skills depending on the soldiers’ needs, lead trainer Shawna Swanson said.
“We have one veteran that’s requested the dog wake him up prior to a nightmare starting, because he talks in his sleep before the intense nightmare sets in,” Burnham said. “There are dogs that just have that instinctive behavior to read an anxiety attack coming on; we can’t train that into the dog.” PLEASE READ MORE
These days, we hear that just about everything is bad for us except maybe broccoli, and I wonder about broccoli!
Water is an absolute necessity for the maintenance of life … all life. Animals need water. Plants and trees need water. People need water. I’ve heard it said that our human bodies are made up of around 80% water! 80%! That’s a lot of water!
I don’t know about you, but my body let’s me know when I am short on my water intake. My systems get sluggish, and sometimes my legs cramp. As soon as I start to replenish the water to my thirsty system, I can feel the changes.
Years ago, we had a summer in the Pittsburgh area that set drought records. The spring was relatively “normal,” but suddenly, 22 May was the end of the rain! For weeks, not a drop fell. Grass browned. Gardens suffered. Farmers prayed! Finally, halfway through August late in the afternoon, rain … blessed, sweet, light rain began to fall. Kids and adults alike ran out and jumped, yelled, and danced with delight. The rain had come … finally!
Water has always been a powerful image based on its relationship to life. Nevertheless, as we are currently reminded, it is also a power to contend with when it rages. While insufficient water can suck life away, so too much water sufficates life.
As with life in general, balance is the goal. Consume enough water to maintain LIFE, and work to not permit water to smother LIFE!
“I am the living water. He who drinks of me shall never thirst again!” ~ Jesus Christ
I can only hope and pray that those in positions of leadership in this country, that our inadequate Commander-in-chief, and the 90% of Americans who do not know what service costs, can somehow remember that Freedom costs … the – the bravery exhibited on a daily basis, the selflessness in service as politicians argue over Trillions of dollars and shake hands with desired votes.
I do not support Ron Paul’s foreign policy of “isolationism,” but I would very much like to see the mission clarified and simplified so we know when the battle is over!
FORWARD OPERATING BASE PASAB, Afghanistan — It was the worst of places, but the soldiers on the ground had few options when they marked the landing zone for the medevac helicopter. One of their buddy’s legs had been blown off by an IED near Pashmul South, and another had suffered a traumatic brain injury from the blast.
Grape rows, tree lines and mud walls surrounded the field. It was the perfect setting for an ambush.
Medics tend injured soldier alongside the road
Purple smoke billowed from the landing zone as the crew of Dustoff 59 sped toward a small band of 1st Infantry Division soldiers, waiting with their wounded. As pilot and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Marcus Chambers slowed for the landing, gunfire broke out and the all-too-familiar tat-tat-tat-tat, tat-tat-tat-tat pinged around them.
Chambers set the aircraft down and flight medic Staff Sgt. Garrick Morgenweck flung the door open to retrieve the wounded. As he stepped out, insurgents fired a rocket-propelled grenade from close range, striking a mud wall and narrowly missing the helicopter as it blasted through. PLEASE READ MORE
The day to day devastation …
the unimaginable sights, sounds, smells …
the uncertainty from one day to the next …
waiting, waiting, waiting …
all take a toll on the soldiers on the ground.
War is hell!!!
A phrase thrown around lightly
by many who have never given much thought to the subject.
‘A little more closer to hell’
Capt. Maureen Pennington, director of nursing services at the NATO Role 3 Multinational Hospital at Kandahar Air Field, believes that medevac crews carry a quiet burden, one they aren’t often willing to share with outsiders, and she worries about what they see.
She senses the relief they feel when they hand over a patient and notices a slight drop in their head once the trauma team takes over. She knows they’re retracing their actions and wondering whether they did everything they could.
“You can’t even imagine what they go through. I think they have the weight of the world on their shoulders with all of the soldiers that they take care of,” Pennington said, adding after a brief pause, “That responsibility must weigh very heavy on them.”
While most of the medevac soldiers attempt to disengage their personal feelings from their work, some, like Lowther, let the swell of emotions wash over them. He can’t help but cry at times, especially when his patients are Afghan children. An endless stream of them, robbed of their childhood by poverty and war, make their way onto their helicopters.
Some have been caught in crossfire; others are simply victims of the brutal Afghan rural life.
Sometimes he calls the hospital to check on someone he’s treated. He’s one of the few who wants to know if they made it. Most can’t bear to know.
But even Lowther has a threshold. Recently, while other crewmembers were watching mission footage shot by an embedded film crew, he was overcome with a sickening pain and left the room. He can live it every day, but he can’t stand to watch it replayed.
Even those who try to disengage eventually think about what they see. Catastrophic blast injuries from IEDs that shred a body like nothing else. Gunshot wounds that cause a man to writhe as he pleads with a medic to help him breath or give him water.
Sometimes, the pain in the eyes of the soldiers gets to Morisoli.
He thinks about the journey they’ll have trying to put their life back together. He thinks about the families that will welcome them home. He can’t linger in his thoughts too long, though, because he knows that in the end, it just hurts too much.
He has to let go because he knows that tomorrow, or the next day, he and his crew will pick up another soldier who has lost his legs.
“This is a rough game, and I don’t care who you are, it’s going to affect you,” Role 3 hospital commander Capt. Mike McCarten said.
“They’re seeing things a little more closer to hell.”
I work hard. I’m not rich, but I have enough.
I take care of my family, provide for their needs.
I haul my weight and that of my family.
I will work to take care of them,
I don’t need subsidies or tax dollars spent on me.
Nor do I want to be taxed so those who choose not to work
and procreate more of their kind can live off my earnings.
Got it? Now lemme alone so I can work!
Once upon a time, America was inhabited by hard-working, proud, legal immigrants, grateful for a place to thrive and raise their families without fear of oppression for political, religious, or ethnic reasons. From the war ravaged European nations or nations undergoing harshly difficult times, these new Americans were eager to become part of the ideal for which America stood: … land of the free and the home of the brave!
They brought with them their skills and talents and employed them with great zeal to prove their gratitude to the new nation founded on principles of personal liberty, the likes of which none had experienced previously. Naturally, they settled in neighborhoods that took on the characteristics of their homeland culture: the Italians, the Irish, the German, the Slavic, the Mexican, the Puerto Rican, and so on. This was not so much built on a fear or hatred of others as it was a comfortable familiarity with those from similar backgrounds. But, human nature being what it is, fear and hatred grew and wove its ugliness in, around and through our neighborhoods, and emphasized our differences rather than our similarities.
Gradually, fear and hatred swallowed up the personal pride and deep gratitude shared by our great grandfathers and great grandmothers. Our current society, crying out for handouts, is the result.
This is America to me.
I was taught the notion of the American “melting pot” with neighbors from just about every imaginable European background. There were the McCutchean’s two generations out of Scotland. The Henrici’s with 5 daughters, the Midocks with a back yard ice-skating rink, the Amslers, the Dills, the Allens, Amicis. It was not a big deal. The Polumbo’s were “rich” because they had a NEW car. The Perez family talked funny, but they were really nice. America was different than other places because we could be different and still be friends.
I was taught to be polite to everyone and to respect people. I was taught to behave. I was taught not to lie or cheat. That when I did, I really only hurt myself.
I was taught to treat others the way I wanted them to treat me. To plant seeds of respect to reap respect. To plant seeds of kindness and it would come back to me in my time of need.
I was taught to respected every person equally – There really was such a thing a “color-blindness,” maybe not everywhere, but where I grew up, it existed. A person’s sexuality was a completely private thing and simply not an issue. I know how foreign this sounds, but … it was real once.
Where has MY America gone?
I believe there are more people who care and want to help one another than there are those who only want to take.
I believe there are more people who believe in God than those who choose not to, but I also believe NEITHER side needs to shove their beliefs on the other.
I believe there are more people who understand responsibility and accountability than those who don’t.
I believe there are more people who live by a moral code than those who don’t know right from wrong, but those who don’t need instruction.
Nearly one half! Can you wrap your head around those numbers? Of the billions spent by our Federal government, almost HALF is handed out to those unable? or unwilling? to work and become self-reliant. Whatever happened to the individual desire for independence, for fulfillment, and accomplishment? Don’t we teach our children to be independent and self-reliant?
“There was a time in America when being on the public dole was a bad thing, today it is rapidly becoming a way of life. Getting this number back down to size is not going to be pain free.” (Clifton is a Conservative and blogs at Another Black Conservative
America Needs to Re-discover
Her Identity
Maybe we should ask the rest of the world to help us re-define our American Identity? Do we want to be known as the Global Bullies? or the Good Neighbor? The New Age Robin Hood (stealing from the rich and giving to the poor?) or The New Age Emancipator, freeing individuals to rise above their circumstances and find a noble purpose in wholesome work and daily, self-sustaining life?
Many of our minority citizens have a strong leaning toward the liberal side of the fence because they have been taught to believe that the “HELP” programs are for them, and demonstrate the compassion of the Democratic party. I beg to differ! Think it through! Many of these lovely, hard-working Americans have pulled themselves up out of the roots in slavery only to become enslaved once again to the slave-master government. How is government, foodstamps, welfare dependency freedom??? The goal of our republic is to provide the possibility, the availability of freedom sufficient to pursue individual and personal happiness, not doled out by the government in monthly increments, but as built and designed by the individual for the individual! In America, it is about the individual! Individual rights secure individual freedoms to live out our individual lives as we each see fit. However, freedom is only freedom until mine steps on yours.
What is important to you?
freedom to worship, or not, as you see fit, or allowing the sterilization of America from all religious affiliation and influence?
freedom to say what’s on your mind, or intimidation by way of political correctness?
freedom to live as you choose or a multitude of restrictions on your lifestyle?
freedom to build a family or state issued “family units”?
freedom to choose your friends or political pressure toward certain group affiliations?
freedom to pursue purposeful work or government assigned “lemming” work?
time to pursue hobbies, pleasures, enjoyments or no money or time for such frivolousness?
happily involved in volunteerism or or hoarding in fear?
helping others out of compassion or taxed enough to feed those who don’t want to work?
Help up or hand out?
“I predict future happiness for Americans
if they can prevent the government
from wasting the labors of the people
under the pretense of taking care of them.”
A prefect opportunity to President Obama to BE a leader and take an outspoken stand on the behavior of these mobs … like so many other opportunities, has been shoved aside. Maybe when he is all rested up, eh?
Folks, I believe human beings are responsible for their behavior. However, as America's first black president, fair or unfair, Obama's presidency comes with enormous responsibility in terms of its influence on black youths. This is why it is so unfortunate that American black youths' ultimate role model is a characterless, race-baiting political hack. While I am not saying president Obama is responsible for the epidemic of black youth flash-mob … Read More
Thomas Jefferson was a very remarkable man who started learning very early in life and never stopped.
At 5, began studying under his cousin’s tutor.
At 9, studied Latin, Greek and French.
At 14, studied classical literature and additional languages.
At 16, entered the College of William and Mary.
At 19, studied Law for 5 years starting under George Wythe.
At 23, started his own law practice.
At 25, was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses.
At 31, wrote the widely circulated “Summary View of the Rights of British America †and retired from his law practice.
At 32, was a Delegate to the Second Continental Congress.
At 33, wrote the Declaration of Independence .
At 33, took three years to revise Virginia ’s legal code and wrote a Public Education bill and a statute for Religious Freedom.
At 36, was elected the second Governor of Virginia succeeding Patrick Henry.
At 40, served in Congress for two years.
At 41, was the American minister to France and negotiated commercial treaties with European nations along with Ben Franklin and John Adams.
At 46, served as the first Secretary of State under George Washington.
At 53, served as Vice President and was elected president of the American Philosophical Society.
At 55, drafted the Kentucky Resolutions and became the active head of Republican Party.
At 57, was elected the third president of the United States .
At 60, obtained the Louisiana Purchase doubling the nation’s size.
At 61, was elected to a second term as President.
At 65, retired to Monticello .
At 80, helped President Monroe shape the Monroe Doctrine.
At 81, almost single-handedly created the University of Virginia and served as its first president.
At 83, died on the 50th anniversary of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence along with John Adams
Thomas Jefferson knew because he himself studied the previous failed attempts at government. He understood actual history, the nature of God, his laws and the nature of man. That happens to be way more than what most understand today. Jefferson really knew his stuff. A voice from the past to lead us in the future:
John F. Kennedy held a dinner in the white House for a group of the brightest minds in the nation at that time. He made this statement: “This is perhaps the assembly of the most intelligence ever to gather at one time in the White House with the exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.”
“When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe .” — Thomas Jefferson
“The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.” — Thomas Jefferson
“It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.” — Thomas Jefferson
“I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.” — Thomas Jefferson
“My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.” — Thomas Jefferson
“No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.” — Thomas Jefferson
“The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.” — Thomas Jefferson
“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” — Thomas Jefferson
“To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.” — Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson said in 1802:
“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.
If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property – until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.”
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