I will try to update within 24-48 hours. 

See you then.

Last night I blogged on another site on the subject of character of the heart. I expressed several ideas as to how the Ten Commandments were a reflection of God's character. You can read it here.

I have been trying to focus more on my relationship with God, and sometimes I know I am not doing all I can to maintain that focus. I know what God wants me to do regarding diet, health, and other changes I need to be making in my life. With this in mind, I understand the weakness of mind that Jesse Ventura spoke of when he criticized Christians. Yes, I am a weak-minded Christian. The difference I see in myself is that I want to have the mind of Christ, and to have His character embedded in my heart. I know my point of view. There are times when I do not agree with God. There are times when I get angry at Him. There are times when I don't want to talk to Him. Such is the level of my selfishness. I need to have the mind of Christ so I can understand just what it is I am up against. I am up against me, and that battle between being selfish and being selfless is insane. No one can hurt me the way I hurt myself. So I need God's character in my heart and mind. 

The Psalmist wrote of his meditations being focused on God's commandments, laws, statutes, and desired greatly to have them written upon his heart. When David was weak, he fell into bed with a married woman. After he got her pregnant, he did all that he could to cover up his sin, going so far as to have her husband abandoned in battle to be killed. It was a decision that would destroy the lives of many of his sons, including Absalom. David may have been king of Israel and a man after God's own heart, but when he lost his focus, he made critical errors in judgment. I do not want this in my life, and yet, there are things in my head that make me wonder if I am doing what is right.

I focus on Jesus' prayer life and see my own shortcomings. I do not pray enough. I do not focus enough on God's will for my life, let alone the needs of family and friends and coworkers and church family. Often I see my prayers being too much about me me me. I need to change this. Let God's will be done regarding me me me. I can live with His decisions. I just want to be as patient with Him as He has been with me.

Have you ever considered Jesus' words to Peter concerning the things that are loosened on earth will be the things that will be loosened in heaven? It's about character development in this world, becoming what you are to become in this world, which is what you will be for eternity. I look at my behavior. Is any of it any good? Let's put this in light of judgment. A day is coming soon when a voice will declare the following: "Let the one who does wrong continue to do wrong; let the vile person continue to be vile; let the one who does right continue to do right; and let the holy person continue to be holy.” (Revelation 22:11 NIV) On that day God will end His striving with the human race. Sin will have run its course to its fullness, and every human being will have made a final judgment concerning God. One will say that God is worthy of worship, to be honored as Father, and to be loved for all that He has done. Another will say that God is not worthy of worship or honor or love. When Jesus returns, He brings His reward to give to every person according to his or her works. (Revelation 22:12) One is taken to meet the Father, and the other is left behind. 

Every day for me is a day of judgment. God shows me where I got it right (only because I let the Holy Spirit lead me), where I get it wrong (because I prevented the Holy Spirit to lead me), and all I can do is confess my sins and together we both work on repentance. In the first commandment shows us a God who delivers His people from bondage, from slavery. I do not have to be a sinner. I can live a sin-free life IF I let God work in me those things that He desires to bring forth. Right now I see myself as a sinner saved by grace. The day I long for is when I am no longer a sinner, but I am simply saved by grace. I hate my sin, I hate my weakness, and I long for the day after the lake of fire burns itself out completely so that this world can again be perfect. My only ambition as a Christian should be simple: "Be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect." - Jesus Christ - (Matthew 5:48) 

Can you understand why David meditated on God's commandments, laws and statutes? This should be what every Christian should be doing now. 

We are not saved by the keeping of the law. The law shows that we are sinners to be condemned. If we are in Christ, the law has no judgment against us. The judgment is in our favor. Works do not save us, but by our works God judges us fit for eternity with Him. I know myself, but not as well as God does. He sees what I can become if I let Him work through me. That is the person He wants to see in heaven, but first He wants to see him on earth. There is so much to learn, and much to fix in my character.

I am not yet a fan of meditation. I don't completely understand the practice, particularly when it comes from T'ai Chi. I don't agree with the definitions of energy or the source for that energy as defined by Eastern philosophy, so that puts a barrier up right away. The only connection I need is with Jesus Christ and that comes through the Holy Spirit. I can stand in one place and focus my attention on religious themes, carefully breathing in and releasing the breath, and in my mind pray about the things that concern me. Perhaps ten minutes later, I am ready to move along. I don't feel any energy come out of the ground and into my feet and up my legs to the rest of the body or into my head. If anything, it is only an exercise in the concept of "peace, be still." I know He is God. But my calm is so easily damaged sometimes. My prayer life needs to be more active. 

I know what I am looking for. It will take time to find it. I need to be as patient with God as He has been with me. I know I am on the right track in my life. It is now just a matter of finding the joy in the journey, but knowing how to find a true rest along the way. 

Tomorrow at breakfast I am going to start a list of stuff I got in my head that needs to be written for the blogs I have. Too much free time. Time to be writing. More later.

I want to thank everyone who drops by to check out my blog, and I want to apologize for not blogging more frequently. I will focus harder and try to update at least once every two weeks. There's a lot in my head that wants out, and when I have gotten things under control, then they will be unleashed upon you. Should be an interesting wait to see what comes out next.

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Over the last two weeks I have had the chance to speak with some friends in Europe. One lives in Serbia and the other in Croatia. My Croatian friend I met on a Christian singles dating site. My Serbian friend I met on FaceBook. It was good talking with them. 

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I am a lifetime member of xanga, have been since my days in South Korea. It bothers me that I don't come on here more often writing. I am not tired of xanga. I would post more if I could get xanga's text fields to work on my iPod Touch. I don't like being limited to having to be in a PC cafe when I want to enter a new post. I will have to check things out later tonight to see if there have been some changes to xanga and how it works in Safari. 

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There are some challenges I am being called to make. No problem. However, the vast majority of people in the world would never understand what those challenges mean, let alone understand why I need to accept them, let alone believe in who is making those challenges. When I am certain of this, and perhaps I am in denial that I am certain that this is what I must do, then I will take the next step. 

This past February14 will be the last time I wish anyone a Happy Valentine's Day. As it is not a holiday, I will wear the green to celebrate my Irish heritage on St. Patrick's Day, and look forward to it. I am glad that this year it will be celebrated on Sabbath. I am scheduled to speak at my church on that day. Beyond that, I have not much use for other holidays. Instead of Easter, I am looking forward to Passover. I want to explore it more for spiritual growth, as it has so much to teach Christians about what Jesus' sacrifice on the cross was all about. I need to learn how to be a better living sacrifice. Later this year, I want to look more closely at the Feast of Tabernacles, as well, as it has something of particular importance regarding the last day events of Daniel and Revelation. Not every Christian will understand the implications. Same goes with the Jewish New Year.

No, I am not converting to Judaism. I do, however, wish to explore more completely the meaning behind these important holy days that God gave to the human race through the Hebrews. It is something I need to do. 

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It's been a while since I posted pictures and poetry here. My head has been locked up for a long time. A lack of discipline on my part in a number of areas has not helped, and neither has the lack of trust in my instinct. Too much internal conflict is going on in my head, and it doesn't shake off very well. More later.

This year I didn't really make any diehard resolutions except where my weight comes into play. On Jan.1, the scales showed that I was weighing in at 299 lbs. I think the highest my weight may have ever been was 310 lbs. I've managed to keep it between 259 and 300 lbs, but that isn't where I would like to maintain. Its got to come down. My goal is to be down to 185-190 by September. As of yesterday, my weight is 290 lbs. So nine pounds in about a week is good.

I'm going to be focusing on a vegetarian diet, eating more rice, oats, barley, fresh fruit and fresh vegetables when possible. I have a rice cooker, and I like the taste of brown sugar more than I do the taste of white sugar. Cinnamon is also good, and I like brown sugar and cinnamon in oatmeal. With the rice cooker, I should be able to make some homemade vegetable soup, but I don't have a kitchen. The cooker is on top of a dorm fridge in my apartment. Finding a place to cut things up might be dicey, but it will be worth the effort. 

As for eating out, I will continue to do so, but not as much as I used to. While I am desiring to go more vegan, cutting out eggs, dairy, and so on, I am not going to bring any baggage to the table. Some vegans are a bit paranoid about the foods they eat. I am not going to bring paranoia to the table. The only requirement is no meat of any kind, including fish. I look at how pollution has affected the evironment since the Industrial Revolution and understand why animals are no longer good as a food source. I find it laughably foolish when a person says you have to die of something. That is crap. It's better to live for something as long as possible. 

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Just before Christmas I purchased a guitar. I don't know how many guitars I have owned in the past, but I can say too many of them ended up in a pawn shop when I needed the money. This time around I have to learn it. No looking back. I've got two chords down, both focusing on the "A" root, I guess. I know the finger positions, but I am not so strong naming the chords. I have also been focusing on playing scales. Now I need to be more consistent with actually picking it up every day for at least an hour or longer. If I get onto my students for not spending enough time outside of class practicing English, then I have to get onto myself for not practicing guitar enough. I spent the money on the guitar, so now its time to commit to it what I need to make it more than just an investment.

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A few years ago I wrote a post on here focusing on my dealings with depression. I still have it. Some days it isn't as bad as others. One of the keys to overcoming depression is to stay focused on external things, namely anything that is outside of the cranium. Get engaged in thinking about what is on the other side of the eye ball and the ear drum and the skin. There is more to life than just boneheaded thinking about stuff that is basically overrated. If one has depression, then use it as a gift to write, to sing, to dance. Depression should be a tool for creativity, not a weapon of self-destruction. Melancholies think too much, and depression leads one to think too deeply on trivial emotions that can destroy us if we let it. Depression doesn't have to kill us. It only has to make us more interesting people if we hang in there and control it. I master depression. It doesn't master me. (Well, sometimes I do throw the match, but only to make it feel better about itself.) I jest in bad taste. Sometimes I am not busy enough, don't have enough reason to get out and do something. So I spend too much time alone. I have some form of avoidant personality disorder. It started in fourth grade, and has slowly become what it is today. It seems like most of the time I don't want to be around people, but thre are times when I get the feeling that people don't want me around. It's a loop that doesn't snap easily. I want to have a good relationship with a woman that will result in marriage. Thing is, I have yet to meet a single woman who seeks the same thing with me. Then I look at divorced women and hear what happened in the relationship and I wonder if they think I will be like that if they get involved with me. Then the worst thing that happens is that when I do try to lay the foundation, just be friends, see where it goes, everything blows up in my face when I am introduced to someone I don't know. I get told, she is a good person, she is a nice woman, blah blah blah. I hate being treated like a pinball. The last time this happened, something in my head snapped. Never again. No more showing interest. I will be friends with a person, but when it comes to women, NO ONE STANDS A CHANCE WITH ME. I no longer believe in romance. All I require for Valentine's Day is a 20 guage Mossberg 500 with pistol grip and extended magazine. To paraphrase Rambo, "Cupid, I'm coming for you." Going to war against the Greek "loser of love." He's earned my wrath.

I'm not really sure how I am doing. Since August, some things have not changed, some things are down that should have been stablized, still dealing with problems that should have been solved by now, and some things should have improved by now but have failed to do so. There are things I know are true, but the resulting cognitive dissonance is trying to push me a direction I am not meant to go. If I was taking antidepressants, then I would have followed through with action on the darker thoughts a long time ago. That is not the direction I want to progress, it is not the person I struggle to be.

Call all the Christians in the world a bunch of hypocrites. Yeah, Christians are actors. Some of us are pretty bad actors. Some of us don't even read the script. As for me, I want to be one of those Christians who wants to live in peace with my neighbor. I don't want to know if he or she is gay/lesbian/transgender. It isn't relevant to me. If one is, don't brag about it to me. I don't want to be anyone's confessor. If one has a problem, I want to give a shoulder to cry on, have an ear to listen. If necessary, I can put my burdens down for a while and carry yours if you want me to. Just tell me how I can help. And if I can't do much, then let me do what I can, even if it means asking someone else to lend a hand. I may not be able to do something, but I might know someone who can. I don't want to strip anyone of their rights, I don't want anyone incinerated in the lake of fire. I want all of us to pass through the fire. But I won't force you to come and go with me. There are things I know and things you know, and we many not agree, but at least let there be peace between us. If we are not friends, then at least let us speak good things of each other and not curse each other into the pit. I know the kind of Christian lifestyle I want to live, and I struggle with it. Christ told the disciples to be perfect as the Father is perfect, and I don't care how difficult it is, I want to grow up and be able to walk step for step in my Father's footsteps. I think that is my only true ambition in life. And I fail in reaching this every day. Call us actors. Call us hypocrites. All I can do is keep trying to hold my tongue, for inside I want to call you cowards for not attempting to do what I do. NonChristians are no better than Christians, but the same is true that Christians are no better than NonChristians. The only difference is that true Christians accept God's love and then make honest attempts to share that love with the widow, the orphan, the naked, the hungry, the poor, wretched, deaf, blind, dumb, those who are trapped in circumstances from which they cannot be released. I know who I am. I want to be better than this. In the Darwinistic world where only the strong survive, where survival of the fitest is the rule of the jungle, there is no home for me. Darwin doesn't bring anything to the table that is worth my consideration. Jesus Christ is the only option I have for something better than what I have now. If He can endure the cross without the benefit of pain medication, then I will skip the antidepressants. Let the madness die its death. I can live without it. 

Welcome to 2012. Gonna be an interesting year.

I've already checked ahead, and Chinese New Year will be just as incredibly fascinating. The NY, which is January 23, will be the year of the water dragon. From what I can see from here, it has lots of potential for much goodness or much evil. I see a lot of both in the coming storm.

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By September I am striving to be a size 36 in the waist. Last time I was on the scales, I weighed in at 300 lbs, or 135.8 kgs. Lot of work to do, and it should be fun. I will be posting my weight every week on Twitter. You can follow me on Twitter at @wordwarrior39 Be glad to have you join me there.

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I am again with a guitar in my hand, and learning the E minor pentatonic scale and the E blue scale. Left hand is a bit tingly from all the fret action with the six-string guitar I purchased two weeks ago. I hope to be kicking some more creativity out of my head as I continue to progress on the instrument.

Never give up. Right... Since 1995 I have owned and pawned five or six guitars. This one is a keeper. No place to pawn it off.

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Imagecave is down for now. They claim to be moving to a new server. I hope this is true, as I have a lot of pictures on there that I hate to lose. I've lost too many pictures as it is because of crappy hardware. Most of the pix on Imagecave are saved on memorysticks, so I won't be too angry at them if they get lost.

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Let's see what happens next... 

With each passing year I seem to dislike Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's and Valentine's Day a little bit less. This year the cynicism is still there, as is the disappointment as the turn of the year rapidly approaches. It doesn't help that we are looking at another election year full of useless political rhetoric that will pollute the airwaves and tie up Internet bandwidth that could be used for more trivial pursuits. Face it, I am not a person who enjoys winter and has yet to find what he is looking for on too many levels.

Nearly 30 years ago I was a student considering law enforcement as a career path, but by December of 1988 I decided to change my major. I got into journalism and eventually finished that degree. I grew up on police shows like "Dragnet" and "Adam-12." Later on I was hooked on "Hill Street Blues" and "Homicide: Life in the Streets." I didn't like "NYPD Blue." It was lacking something. I also read non-fiction books focusing on what it meant to be a police officer. One lesson I learned early on was "people lie."

Last week I followed up on an Internet rumor concerning the militarization of the American law enforcement. The Dept. of Defense has been arming the civilian police departments with M-16 rifles, grenade launchers, armored personnel carriers, helicopters, among other things. In the "other things" department we can add to the list Predator drones. Remotely piloted vehicles are now used by some of the larger cities in the US to monitor everything you can think of, from major traffic routes to the cows on your neighbor's farm. A story out of North Dakota is about how a family was arrested following the theft of six cows from a neighbor's farm during a standoff with police. A Predator used for surveillance detected the theft.

The Intel Hub reported that in 2010 the DoD gave $212 million worth of equipment to civilian law enforcement. This year the amount was estimated at $500 million. Next year it is believed that $2 billion will be given away. Next year is an election year. Obama should be asking "should I stay or should I go." Meanwhile, Ron Paul is the only candidate who seems to have the heart of the People. Until then we are watching to see what happens with Senate bill 1867, which will make the continental US a battlefield and give the military authority to detain without charges or a trial any American citizen for an indefinite period of time. It also affects the Uniform Code of Military Justice concerning sex with animals, which has animal rights activists wondering what is going on.

For a season that was once known for "Peace on Earth, Good Will to all Mankind," things certainly have changed. How generous of the DoD to give the gifts that keep on giving to local police departments who face challenges of peaceful protests and the resulting violence that comes out of it when they attempt to break it up. Will civil unrest continue on next year? I say "YES." Will it be as bad in the US as it has been for Iceland, Greece, Spain and other countries that are still experiencing political corruption at its finest? I say "PROBABLY."

I don't see much good coming out of 2012. I think that the Republicans will throw another election, just like they did with John McCain and Sara Palin. Obama, who does not deserve another four years in the White House, should be sent on permanent vacation to a country where people like him can happily coexist. I think he would be at home hanging out with Bobby Mugabe of Zimbabwe. They seem to be political birds of a feather. What they have done to their countries are somewhat comparable. It took Mugabe longer to do his damage than it did for Obama to do his.

Unfortunately, Obama will not be vetted to see if he is constitutionally qualified to run for president, just like he wasn't vetted four years ago. And his political record will be "modified" to make him smell like a sixty-day air freshener to the voters who can't handle the losing scent of the candidates the Republicans finally anoint to be their Messiah. In the meantime, those of us who love a good mystery will just have to sit back and wait to see what Sheriff Joe turns up in his investigation into the forged documents that came out earlier this year claiming Obama was born in Hawaii. At least one thing will prove to be interesting in February. Let's see if the investigators live to tell about it.

You ever hear one of those songs that just nails you in such a way that you wish it could be the title track of your life? Or maybe, in a way that is better left undefined, the song says things in such a way that you wish you could make it the title track of your relationship with one person, and only that one person, even if that person is half reality-half figment of your imagination. Such is the danger, I guess, in idealizing and glamorizing the nasty side of romance. Life is never like the song on the radio, but we wish it was. Singers and songwriters say the things by proxy what we want to say to that one person, and silently we pray that things will never change, afraid of what tomorrow will bring. To real or imagined, wish you were here...

Chasing Cars (Snow Patrol) - both versions are covers

Mike Masse
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt9Cp7gZrqU&feature=endscreen&NR=1

Cherry Lee
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Km5VAR5HCCU

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One of my downfalls is that I have become too used to disappointment. I'm used to it. What makes it worse is that my fuse seems to get shorter with each passing day. The overwhelming double standard of expectations blows me away. It is not okay for me to disappoint others. However, if others let me down, I have to live with the consequences and can't do anything about it. Doesn't matter if what they do leaves me short of cash. The last three months have been loaded with this kind of disappointment.

It is no surprise to me that I often want to take a long piece of bamboo, cut it down to a 5-foot long stick, and just walk into the wilderness, leaving to the losers I encounter every day to do what they will do to each other. I have read about Enoch, the man who loved God so deeply and passionately that, one day as he was walking home, dwelling on his disappointment with the human race and longing to go home to be with his Father (not his God, but his Father, his Dad) that God mercifully opens the door for him. Enoch took one step in this world, followed by a second step, and a third step, and when he blinked he was surrounded by a spotless people who sang songs of glory on the day this world was created. I want to be like that. My ambitions in this world should be simple enough: be perfect as the Father is perfect, and have the mind of Christ. In other words, "seek ye first the kingdom of God and all of these things shall be added unto you." Everything falls into place after the fact.

So why is it no surprise about wanting to take an extremely long hike in the woods? It is something that I experience every so often when I get tired of wasting time being practical, being pragmatic, taking what I can get with little to no payoff that makes it worth the effort. Long ago I drew the conclusion that neckties are for posers, people who want to look profesional without being professional. I have three neckties, and it has been over a year since I wore one. I am thinking of giving them to some people as a sign of gratitude for all the bad advice in men's fashion they have shared with me. If the shirt doesn't have a banded collar or mandarin collar, don't waste my time "encouraging" me to put it on and wearing a necktie with it.

Yeah, I got some anger I am trying to work through. I try to be open and available to anyone who wants to talk about stuff, but as much as I try to dislodge the ever-present chip on my shoulder, nothing seems to work, so people stay away and let me confront the stuff in my life that I would rather leave behind as they open up and tell me stuff about their lives. I'm empathetic to other people's problems. Just don't have ten people come up to me in five minutes or less and ask the same blasted questions. The end result is that I feel like I am repeating myself, and its a drag that all too often when I do try opening up no one listens. Answering the same question over and over again is not healthy. Besides, I don't do small talk very well. I need more than that. Lonliness is a killer. It isn't much fun during the holidays, either. At least ask if the proverbial chip on the shoulder is Pringles or Frito-Lay. 

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It's been thirty years since John Lennon was killed. I was not that big of a fan of The Beatles, though I did like a few of their songs. Other people experienced a greater impact from his music than I did. 

 "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

This is what the First Amendment states, plainly and clearly. Too many people have bled and died to preserve the constitution of the United States because of it guarantees the People. Our senators and representatives swore an oath to preserve and to defend the constitution. Those who vote in favor of this are in violation of their oath of office and hold the People in contempt, and the sacrifice of the men and women who served the People is of little meaning. 

If you agree with the following letter, then go to the website and sign the petition.

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I am a constituent and I urge you to reject the Internet Blacklist Bills (PROTECT IP Act in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act in the House). 
 
I do *not* want the government to have the power to block websites. 
 
The Internet Blacklist bill will open the sites I love to crushing lawsuits, and kill jobs in the tech sector. 
I urge you to join Senator Wyden and other members of Congress in opposing it.

You see it coming and don't have time to blink. You go from feeling fine to feeling nothing in less than 0.25 second. You hear nothing. You see nothing. You feel nothing. 

Something unseen touches you. Eyes open but all in your field of vision is a massive blur of color, maybe a second of clarity as someone shouts something unintelligible at you. Numbness embraces you from head to foot. Nothing feels broken. Still you feel like an egg flipped in a frying pan and have no strength to move, though you want desperately to move, to make sure that you truly are dreaming. A sensation slowly creeps into your body and you know it isn't a dream.

Before you can be thankful for the return of the numbness, all fades to black one more time.

No shouting. No motion blurr. No odors. No color. A comforting blackness surrounds you, as black as the deepest midnight sleep mercifully free of dreams.

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Movies don't do justice to war and those who bravely go off to face it.  My imagination cannot conceive of what really happened that hot, dusty day in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. I try to imagine the vehicle being hit by an improvised explosive device. I try to imagine what the soldiers in the "Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected" Stryker experienced when the device exploded. I cannot. 

I read one testimony. The explosion. Waking up and shaking it off. Seeing two other buddies alive and relatively well in spite of things.

The words that come next hit worse than any bullet or bomb could do. One of the buddies was killed.

Two months ago my nephew, PFC Brandon S. Mullins, was killed in action as he drove an MR-AP Stryker through a hot, dusty Afghan day, fighting a war that some clain they don't understand and others, for their own reasons, still support. It is a war that Barack Obama promised to end. Obama lied and a lot of kids died. Thank you, President Johnson II. 

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This morning I went to Thung Sri Muang Park and celebrated Remembrance Day with Australians and Brits and Americans and Thai people who are the decendants of a brave generation that rose to the challenge of World War II and overcame them. Thailand's politicians gave themselves to the Japanese before the war picked up in 1940, so they had it much easier than the allied prisoners who would one day build airstrips used by the Japanese air force to bomb Burma in their drive east. Allied POWs would also build the Thailand-Burma railway, as well as the famed bridge on the Kwai River in Kanchanaburi. After the war was over, surviving POWs came to call this area "Mother Ubon" in gratitude of the Thai people who put their lives at risk taking care of them. 

I've been thinking about Brandon and his brother and his future brother-in-law who are still serving in the army. Been thinking about the events of 9/11 and the wars that have been fought throughout human history. The last 24 hours have been filled with thoughts of war. How many battles can I name? Too many. My grandmother's generation saw family members serving in Europe and in the Pacific. My great uncle brought back a Japanese rifle from Okinawa that I got to hold once. Then there are the other stories of ancestors going back to both sides of the Big Mess of 1861-1865. We are still fighting over that issue. 

People say "Thank You" to the veterans who fight for freedom. It is deserved. Thing is, we are all to be freedom fighters. Some are skilled with a gun. Others are skilled with a pen. Different talents are to be used in the fight for freedom, liberty, and the inalienable rights that our Creator so graciously and kindly blessed us with. We cannot pick one issue, say religious freedom, and stand opposed to another issue, say gun rights. We either support freedom, liberty, and the rights of all, or we do not live up to our duties as human beings. "No greater love has any man than this, that he lay down his life for a friend." - Jesus Christ. We are all called to make sacrifices. We are all called to love above all the lives of others. It takes more than bravery and courage to do such a thing as this.

It takes the greatest kind of love to help others to live.

If love was our guide in life, then we would all stand equally brave before the end as we know it.