Miss Marissa Von Derr Weissing

I finally found a mate for my big and beautiful male German Shepherd – Kanana!
My sister found ‘Missy’ on craigslist, and contacted me knowing I would be interested. I had to go across the state to get her, but she was free and exactly what I was looking for. She has beautiful blood lines and some of her past pups are now police dogs across the state; the folks I got her from had bought her from a breeder 1 year ago. She’s very timid and docile, very likely due to having been kenneled for 6 yrs, but she’s friendly and is great around kids. Though boy can she be ornery! She is so jealous of any attention whatsoever that I give Ko. If I try to pet her on one side and Kanana on the other she moves around and puts herself in between me and him. If I’m petting just him she scoots up under my arms and pushes him out of the way. If I’m just petting them he’ll let her get away with being rude, but if we’re walking or riding the horse, he lets her know who’s boss! They get along really well though. Matter of fact, all three of us do!

If only we could truly trust!

I recall several major instances now, in which it was naturally expected that I would be worked up and distraught; instances that definitely justified such. But much to my dismay and confusion, I found myself totally careless. It had no intense or lasting effect, it really had no bearing on me whatsoever. I could have cared-less. The reason being: I knew that Christ had allowed it – organized events as such – and no matter *how* bad the situation, He had a plan and a purpose. He had everything in control and there was nothing I could do to “right” things anyway. I’ve known horrible situations in which I’ve been completely care-free, and at times I have to wonder if I’m in the wrong for not carrying some of the load, but if my Lord’s carrying it for me, I mean…explain to me why I should! Now I must admit, as humbling as it be, that I’m sure some of the reason why I didn’t react, was because others reacted. Not acting rightly like I should, I tend to react opposite to how others react. Try driving with me sometime: (better yet, just ask Dad ) if a car was headed through an intersection milliseconds away from broadsiding me and you were in your calm manner warning me (more like natural reaction: screaming in my ear!), I’d probably take my timely manner of evaluating as to which plan I should follow – plan A or plan B. But, before I decided on a plan I’d probably ask you to talk a little quieter and calm down. That is, if I attained the skill of thinking and speaking at the same time! Ok, regardless of all that though, you’ve only heard one side of the story. I have the uncunning habit of giving the best part first and saving the worst for last.

So yeah. Bad news is:
It’s usually the little things – seriously – just petty, stupid, little things, that get me aggravated to great extremes. Like a vacuum that wont work right, or a pan that you stuck in the bottom of the oven that you can’t get out, and you’ve burnt your hands half a dozen times on it because of these retarded, crotched, pot-holders that happen to be the only ones that exist around the place because they were made by kin folk. Maybe a little bigger and more serious than that, but still. If only I could always bear in mind that Divine Providence made it happen for a reason!

That would have to be heaven on earth! Not a single care on your shoulder because you gave them all to Christ. Completely careless – knowing that He holds everything in His hands and nothing, absolutely nothing, can happen without His consent. Ah! Such bliss!

I know this is a bit late seeing as it came out many, many months ago, but since I just saw it I still want to write some praise to the Kendrick brothers.
Can anyone agree with me that it is one *awesome* movie?! Flywheel was good. Facing the Giants was good. Fireproof…well it was just incredible!
(1 It deals with one the most if not the most prominant issue of our problems in America today. Marriage. That’s where the family starts, right?
(2 It is *so* dead on! I’ve heard some criticism of the last two for “prosperity gospel” being portrayed, but this one had everything right. I loved the way Caleb went past the 40 days just on his own. It had become much more than just “following the rules”; it was now a heart issue.
(3 It showed plainly the fact that it was not the 40 day guide, but rather the understanding of true love which came through Caleb’s salvation, that protected the marriage.
(4 The makers were not afraid to deal with a very real issue…pornagraphy. They weren’t discreet about it, (they didn’t try to hide the fact that it plays a major role) yet they did it in a way that could not be offensive even to the youngest.
I know some viewers who didn’t like it because of all the verbal fighting, but do you realize exactly how realistic that is? And no, they didn’t go overboard at all. There’s many homes out there that are *far* worse!
The biggest thing for me, is that finally I see Christian producers, dealing with fundamental issues, not afraid to state the facts, clearly presenting the gospel, *yet in a professional way*. There are lots of Christian producers, but very few do anything professionally. Most all of good Christian material, is just so-so or even halfway sloppy. Don’t get me wrong, I realize there’s many out there who can’t afford everthing, but feel led to produce something. May God bless them in their efforts. But still I see many times that the time and care is not taken. Yeah I know, I can talk because I’m not having to deal with anything of the like, and on top of that I tend to be a bit maticulous when it comes to this kind of stuff! (Only because I would *love* to be part of film making… )

“If the grace of God should leave the best Christian, there is enough of sin in his heart to make him the worst of transgressors. If left to yourselves, you who are warmest for Christ would cool down like Laodicea into sickening lukewarmness: you who are sound in the faith would be white with the leprosy of false doctrine; you who now walk before the Lord in excellency and integrity would reel to and fro, and stagger with a drunkenness of evil passion. Like the moon, we borrow our light; bright as we are when grace shines on us, we are darkness itself when the Sun of Righteousness withdraws Himself. Therefore let us cry to God never to leave us. “Lord, take not thy Holy Spirit from us! Withdraw not from us Thine indwelling grace! Hast Thou not said, ‘I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day’? Lord, keep us everywhere. Keep us when in the valley, that we murmur not against Thy humbling hand; keep us when on the mountain, that we wax not giddy through being lifted up; keep us in youth, when our passions are strong; keep us in old age, when becoming conceited of our wisdom, we may therefore prove greater fools than the young and giddy; keep us when we come to die, lest, at the very last, we should deny Thee! Keep us living, keep us dying, keep us labouring, keep us suffering, keep us fighting, keep us resting, keep us everywhere, for everywhere we need Thee, O our God!”

After reading the above, it immediately brought to mind the below.

I asked God for strength, that I might achieve,

I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey.

I asked God for health, that I might do greater things,

I was given infirmity, that I might do better things.

I asked for riches, that I might be happy,

I was given poverty, that I might be wise.

I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men,
I

 was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God.

I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life,
I was given life,

 that I might enjoy all things.

I got nothing that I asked for –
but everything I had hoped for

Almost despite myself, my
unspoken prayers were answered.

I am among men, most richly blessed.

COURAGE

When in this life our hearts are stout,

that’s not what courage is all about.

When our arm is strong and back is straight that’s not when courage is truly great.

When friends are there at our command,
That’s not when courage makes its stand.

It’s when we’re sick, or weak, and scared,
and no one’s there to show they cared.

And when we say what we know is right and stand by it with all our might.

When all the world says black is white and to defy that statement means a fight.

We stand our ground and be not moved and hope that God will show the TRUTH.

This is courage my friend to stand by TRUTH through thick and thin.

Whether we are weak or strong
courage is that which we must ever prolong.

Up to this point, I’ve pretty much tried to present things in a level headed balanced manner. But that was just up this point; from now on – NEVER! No, I’m kidding. I’m posting a thought provoking article & issue that I was confronted with, and then my response to the same. At first, my reaction was pretty much the same as everyone elses. “I don’t know! There’s just too much on either side of the deal.” So I decided I’d just sit down and do the all too normal – write out every thought and it’s opposing one as well. I’d then find my perfect balance. However, I didn’t. I started writing, and it just started all coming out. I never got to present the other side, because by the time I was finished with the one there just wasn’t anything left for the other.

So here’s the article:
The day when it would be necessary to exercise discernment in order to tell the difference between a hero or a villain seemed, for a long time, like a far-fetched idea to me, as history and experience generally create a clear distinction between the two; and understandably so, since after all, they happen to be opposites. That is, until recently; when, while listening to a news reporter, a name came to my mind; a name that instantly launched my mental faculties into the deep, dark, and often despised abyss of controversy that necessarily surrounds the name Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
Born to a family of eight, Dietrich and his twin sister, Sabina, made their entrance into a sullen, gray world in Breslau, on the chilly night of February 4, 1906. His father, Karl Bonhoeffer, while working as a professor of psychiatry and Neurology at Berlin University, was Germany’s leading empirical psychologist. Dietrich received his doctorate from Berlin University in 1927, and lectured in the theological faculty during the early thirties. He was ordained a Lutheran pastor in 1931, and served two Lutheran congregations, St. Paul’s and Sydenham, in London from 1933-35.
In 1934, 2000 Lutheran pastors organized the Pastors’ Emergency League in opposition to the state church controlled by the Nazis. This organization evolved into the Confessing Church, a free and independent protestant church. Bonhoeffer served as head of the Confessing Church’s seminary at Finkenwalde. The activities of the Confessing Church were virtually outlawed and its five seminaries closed by the Nazis in 1937.
Bonhoeffer’s active opposition to National Socialism in the thirties continued to escalate until his recruitment into the resistance in 1940. The core of the conspiracy to assassinate Adolph Hitler and overthrow the Third Reich was an elite group within the Abwehr (German Military Intelligence), which included, Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, Head of Military Intelligence, General Hans Oster (who recruited Bonhoeffer), and Hans von Dohnanyi, who was married to Bonhoeffer’s sister, Christine. All three were executed with Bonhoeffer on April 9, 1945. For their role in the conspiracy, the Nazis also executed Bonhoeffer’s brother, Klaus, and a second brother-in-law, Rudiger Schleicher, on April 23, 1945, seven days before Hitler himself committed suicide on April 30.
Bonhoeffer’s role in the conspiracy was one of courier and diplomat to the British government on behalf of the resistance, since Allied support was essential to stopping the war. Between trips abroad for the resistance, Bonhoeffer stayed at Ettal, a Benedictine monastery outside of Munich, where he worked on his book, Ethics, from 1940 until his arrest in 1943. Bonhoeffer, in effect, was formulating the ethical basis for when the performance of certain extreme actions, such as assassination, were required of a morally responsible person, while at the same time attempting to overthrow the Third Reich in what everyone expected to be a very bloody coup d’etat.
This combination of action and thought surely qualifies as one of the more unique moments in intellectual history, as Dietrich was essentially a modern pioneer in this area of philosophy.
Highly acclaimed throughout history, Bonhoeffer has been hailed as a hero by the conservative community for many years, upheld as a heroic champion for the cause of freedom.
So we know all about a guy that lived 60-ish years ago now. Great guy, plenty of the guts and backbone that make the “grit” we respect in a leader or hero, but what’s the point?
This is where the story reverts back to the sparking of this train of thought; the irritating, maddeningly shrill voice of the news reporter doing the job he was trained so well to do: reporting news. The news this particularly unsavory individual had to bear, however, was not the ordinary yawn and finish your coffee before work news. No, instead, the terrible little sounds his voice box was making announced that the famous abortionist George Tiller had been brutally gunned down in his church by a pro-life activist with a weapon and a home-made sense of justice. Murderer of 60,000 innocent children, many of them past the 21 week mark, Tiller was not the type of guy I would have coffee with and chat about world affairs and views; however, killing him is taking it a little too far, right? I mean, after all, despite being the biggest mass murderer in the U.S., he is still a human, and that counts for something, last time I checked. The retard that shot him obviously hadn’t thought through the consequences of his actions: the name this would give the pro life community, giving the secular world yet more reason to throw us into the class of dangerous criminals. Gosh, didn’t this guy have any brains at all? Did he just wake up sunday morning with an overwhelming impulse to go to church and shoot George? Apparently…
But then I actually started thinking. And a very disturbing thought came to my head that I immediately dispelled, and questioned my mental health for thinking it. But then it came back. A little light bulb came on in my head for a short second (not really: metaphorically speaking. if a light bulb were to actually exist in my head, I’d be really weird, and if it came on, that would be beyond weird and into the realm of freaky) however, it only stayed on for a short second, because it was suddenly flooded by an overpowering wave of confusion: confusion as the “conservative”, “pro-life” news service railed on Scott Roeder, calling him a villainous enemy to the conservative cause. But why the confusion? Obviously, Roeder is a murderer! The cowardly act of brutality can be nothing but simply despicable! Oh, but that stupid little thought comes crawling back: Tiller was a mass murderer… The 60,000 innocents whose blood stains his hands equal over a fourth of the number exterminated by the insane rampage of Hitler: a sobering thought when you consider that while Hitler was practically insane and intended to weed out and “purify” the population, Tiller had no motivation beyond the whim of a deceived woman, mislead into making a decision that will ultimately bring her pain and shame. The cruel heartlessness of this monster can very possibly be accurately described as unsurpassed in the history of the world. When a raving maniac went on a murdering spree and killed thousands of innocents leaving a bloody trail of hopelessness behind, a man named Bonhoeffer participated in an assassination plot to stop the terrible evil ravaging the earth, and was consequently lifted up as a hero. Scott Roeder, a long time pro-life activist, saw the exact same situation ignored by the legal system of our land, and consequently took the action he deemed necessary to end the mass slaughter, reaping rejection and criticism from almost the entire nation. Is Roeder a hero for preventing the slaughter of yet more innocents at the hand of Tiller, or is he a villain; a scoundrel responsible for tainting the conservative community and pro-life-ism itself by committing a rash act of unjustifiable violence? Quite frankly, I don’t know. I’m confused. Rage finds a compromise with Scriptural commands, yet certain biblical principles and precedent indicate a far different pattern than the current pacifist mental state in which the majority of Christians lie. At the same time, principle clashes with direct command, leaving the head of the student spinning. In the light of my ignorance, and with the haunting words of God “thou shalt not kill” lingering in the back of your mind, I leave you a parting question. If a serial killer were loose in your community, killing innocent children by the thousands, and, by some happenstance, you found it in your power to end the swath of brutal murder with the pull of a trigger, and you knew for certain that if you did not take that action, more innocent lives would be destroyed, would you walk away and let it continue, or would you end it?

And here’s my thoughts:
I’m sitting here listening to this song “I hear my baby crying, I close my eyes to forget what I have done. But I hear my baby crying, the unborn child who’s life I took, will never see the morning sun.” (The mother commits suicide later on in the song.)

Do we truly understand abortion? Do we truly understand it’s results? NO! How many of you walking through a mall happening accross someone standing there with a Tommy gun using it on everyone in site would hesitate to pull out his concealed weapon and shoot the murderer? Hopefully no one. (I’m ashamed to say I know a few of you who might, but regardless…) Yet, you wouldn’t dare to even think a thought about walking into an abortion clinic and shooting the doctor.

Why? You know why? Because you don’t understand abortion. In our human nature we have to see a certain amount of action, we have to see certain results, in order to bring our moral senses to a right. Because we don’t see the blood, the gore, because we don’t experience the emotional trauma, it does not trigger a reaction from us.The question is: should it? Why shouldn’t it? Just because our human nature reacts differently, should we confine our minds to this naive way of thinking as a sinful man, or should we get beyond this human flesh and start seeing things from a higher point of view?

The biggest thing – rightfully, is what the Bible has to say on the matter. The all famous may be quoted – Thou shalt not kill – but as we live by the New Testamant and not the old, well I could say it doesn’t apply. But then the New Testament says that all the law and the prophets hang on the two commandments – love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,…and love thy neighbor as thyself. Now we would look at this and say that not killing would fall under “love thy neighbor as thyself”. Because, if we loved others as ourselves we would treat them how we want to be treated, and none of us want to be killed. That’s the way it goes, right? Now let me insert a blasphemous line. Should we not, as a Christian want to enter the gates of heaven? Forget that. With the commandment “love thy neighbor as thyself” we have two options. Which neighbor do we love more? The murderer or the child? Answer for yourself. Apart from this verse, are there any others that might prohibit us from taking the life of a murder? As I don’t have the means to do a good thorough search, I have to go from memory. I can’t think of any.

So we’re scared of the name this incident is going to give to our sect – have we considered that “right” goes beyond what anyone thinks? No matter what we do, if we live our lives in dark cellers eating rotten potatoes our whole lives through, they’d find some reason to hate us.

How is it that we can look at heros of the past and thank God for the stands they took, saving the lives of grown men and women (as well as children) and then blast the soul that tries to defend a poor helpless baby? I mean, come on! What is this, defend the able – oppose the defenceless? If all this is simply a matter of whether as Christians we can take another human life, why do we not question our young men joining the service where ten to one they’ll have to take a human’s life? Again, it’s exactly the same as I already described. We have to visibly see the action – we have to emotionally feel it. War is real enough to us. Is murder of children not? After reading Gary North’s letter to Paul Hill I am thoroughly convinced of this fact. I might add, I was very shocked and appalled at this letter of Mr. North’s. It is absolutely NOT a case of God having not judged America for abortion practice because it’s not “legal”. Explain to me how an abortionist can walk out of a court room FREE and continue his serial killing if it’s “illegal”? Praise be to God that He’s a little higher than our petty rules and regulations and that He knows what life is! My friend be assured, He WILL judge! I could go through and pick the whole letter apart, but since there are few I’m sure who are familiar with it, I wont bother. And of course, time is much too precious to be leveling out Christian brothers.

For cryin’ out loud, we’ve got a whole slew of murderers to deal with! The murder of someone who has the very slightest degree of defence is one thing; a completely helpless baby, a human soul utterly defenceless, dependent on you or anyone else, yet brutally slaughtered…may God do the same and more to he who would dare to commit such a hineous crime! Somebody tell me how we can hate Hitler so profoundly, yet tolerate villians like himself in our very midst? I DO NOT care whether the majority of the populace was against Hitler while it seems that the majority sides with the abortionists today! They ARE the same, and you’d better realize it! You know what though, I don’t think that the majority stands on the serial killers side. I think that we’re too scared yeller to speak up, so nobody knows where we stand!
There. Anything I had to my name has now disappeared. Or has it just abundantly mulitplied? I pray to God, not, but then I guess it wouldn’t really matter, because what should I care about what others think about right? Sorry.
O yeah and btw, Hip Hip Horray and Praise the Lord I’m a double aunt! 2 1/2 months till my neice is born 7 3/4 months till my nephew comes along!
*And* I dare, I DARE any man to cross my path who would even give a thought to murdering either of these children! Better yet, I dare him to cross my God’s path! Yeah…I dare him!

 To my detriment I’m a very factual person with the sincere belief that there’s a reason for everything. Thus, if I don’t understand something it will bug me to my death. (Unless I exercise enough will power to put it out of mind. )

Regardless though, I recently read through the book of Acts and it wasn’t until I was almost finished when I started thinking about all the miracles that took place in the book. I’ve heard by way of passing (not actual teaching) that with Christ’s death died all the miracles and pretty much everything supernatural. I knew that wasn’t true because of all the miracles that take place in the book. Not just Pentecost, but miracles such as healings taking place on a regular basis.

In a discussion just recently that I was involved in concerning this question, I was told that the Church of Christ believe that it was a direct power in a physical type sense, that Christ handed down to his disciples. Upon first hearing it, I’m thinking “Ok, that’s not so off the wall”, but after considering it, it too is not possible. Acts records Stephen performing miracles, Paul raised the young man back to life who had fallen out of the window – They were in no direct contact with Christ.

So I pose the question for any of you who might have some thoughts or theorys for the matter.

“Why do we not have miracles performed by God’s servants today? Where was the line drawn? It obviously didn’t stop at the disciples. I don’t have access to any other histories of that time period, so I don’t know if there are other recorded miracles of the likes to Acts elsewhere, but we definitely don’t have them nowadays. Pretty much: Who, Where, Why, What, When, How?”

“You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.”

Just about everyone’s heard the truth of those words, yet I dare to pose a variable of this famous line: “You don’t realize what you didn’t have until you’ve experienced something better.”

Have you ever realized that you can enjoy something to the highest degree, until you experience something better? Many have demeaned this nagging fact as a case of discontentment and therefore wrong. For some reason though, I find it to be very beneficial to both character and conduct. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure it can be taken out of hand either way, but just bear with me…

We’ve become much too complacent in our day and age. Everything goes. Everything’s good. We, as followers of Christ have both forgotten that there’s a world around us as well as suffering Christian’s in our midst. Many times we forget about one or the other, and shamefully sometimes both. Some are so stuck in their “Christian circle”, they forget that there’s an outside world. Other’s are so caught up in ministering to the outside world, that they forget their many Christian brothers and sisters that are in need.

Yet, which ever ministry we’ve taken, (hopefully both) we’re still content with our small and confined boundries. Daddy’s always said, “Go big or go home.” If only we could truly learn it! In some way we get involved in a ministry and then get the mindset that because we’re working for God by performing our little Christian duties, all’s good. Number one, it’s not all good if we’re doing it for ourselves in any way, but the pressing question is: to what extent are you “doing your duty”?

Is it so shocking to learn that our duty is defined by our ablility?

Be it nothing, lest given with everything!

Are we content with our very small realm, or are we constantly reaching out, constantly striving for bigger and better?

I recently read “The Prayer of Jabez”. Good book if taken with a grain of salt. The prayer could easily be made into simply another godly ritual, and I believe this has occured by a whole lot more than one person, but regardless, it contains some rewarding insight along this same line. We are too placid. It is only to the very best of our ability that duty can every be fulfilled.

by: Durant Drake

If marriage were always undertaken with adequate caution, there would seldom be need of annulling it. It is matter of common knowledge that there is   tendency in recent years toward a loosening of the marriage bod; the ease with which divorces are granted in some States has become a national scandal. Among the causes for this are the lessening of allegiance to religious authority, the loss of the older fears and restraints, the growing spirit of adventure and iconoclasm. With the breaking-up of traditions, the lure of freedom, has been strong, especially upon the so-long-dominated and docile sex. Women are becoming better educated and asserting their rights everywhere; they are now able to earn their living in many independent ways, and are in a position to break loose; the era of the subjection of women is over, and it is natural that many, particularly of the idle and frivolous, should turn this new-won liberty into license. Divorce must certainly not be so easy as to encourage hasty and unconsidered marriage, or to turn this most sacred of relationships into a mere experimental and provisional alliance. “Trial marriage” is a palpably reprehensible scheme, involving an unwarrantable stimulus to the sex appetite; many men would enjoy taking one woman after another, until their passion in each case had exhausted its force with the lapse of novelty; women, who are not so naturally promiscuous, would suffer most. What would become of the children is a question whose very posing condemns the proposal. But a lax divorce law provides practically for trial marriage; one or the other party may enter into the contract and pronounce the solemn vows without any intention of keeping them when it shall cease to be for his or her pleasure. Not in this way is to be got the real worth of marriage; the conscious and earnest effort, at least, must be to keep it for life. An easy short cut to freedom would tempt too many from the harder but nobler way of compromise, conciliation, and self-subordination. If one is weak and erring, or petulant and unkind, the other must patiently and lovingly seek to help, to educate, to uplift; seventy times seven times is not too often for forgiveness; and many a marriage that seemed hopelessly wrecked has been saved by magnanimity and tactful affection. There is a fine disciplinary value in these forbearances, and much opportunity for spiritual growth in the persevering endeavor toward harmony and mutual understanding. Many a man and woman who might have been lost if divorced, has been saved for a better life by the unwillingness of wife or husband to desert under grievous provocation. There comes an ebb to most conjugal disputes; while there is any hope for readjustment and revival of live it is wrong to break marital vows. many a divorce has been as hasty and ill-considered as the marriage it ended, and has left the couple in the end less happy and useful members of the community. Particularly when there are children should the parents sacrifice much for the sake of giving them a real home, the both the mother- and father- love. Yet there are cases where love is hopelessly killed and harmony is impossible; cases where much suffering, and even moral degeneration, would result from continuance of the married life. where a man transfers his love to another or indulges in infidelity to his vows; where he crazes himself with liquor or some other narcotic, and will not give it up; where he treats his wife with cruelty or contempt, or through selfishness or laziness deserts or refuses to support her; where she refuses to perform her wifely duties, gives  to other men, makes home intolerable for him— in short, in any case where mutual loyalty and cooperation are hopeless of attainment, it is surely best that there should be separation. It does not make for the welfare of the children, or the sanctity of marriage, that such wretched travesties of it should continue. whether the guilty man or woman, the one wholly or chiefly to blame for the failure, should be permitted to remarry is another matter; but probably, on the whole, it is better than the alternative encouragement of immorality and illegitimacy.