Saddle up your camels, ladies, we're off to battle! A free-wheeling commentary of a lady who believes that women belong in combat, certainly not in the military, but in the home -- in the spiritual battle for their families. Join us on the frontlines as we cover homeschooling, the culture wars, raising sons, virtuous manhood and womanhood, helping our husbands, femininity, serving Christ the King, and all other fronts in the holy war we face. Up camels!

Sunday, September 10, 2006

The Marriage Vow


In an age when the divorce rate among Christians differs in no respect from that of unbelievers, to the shame of the church, we seem to have forgotten what a vow is. This weekend I had the privelege of seeing what it means to an older generation to promise "For better or for worse."

The story of the marriage of my grandparents is not a happily-ever-after one. My grandfather was an extremely difficult man to live with in his youth - a wild and angry man. Then after he repented and settled down, my grandmother suffered repeated cancers and back surgeries. They did not abandon each other through these challenges, though. They did their duty. Paid their vows - for themselves, for the Lord, and for us. They have lost almost all of their many siblings to death, helped a daughter through becoming a young widow, and loved and shepherded us all through heartbreaks, health breakdowns and job losses. Now in their eighties, Papa Ray has Alzheimers' and his health has declined to the point that he needs constant help.

Nana kept him at home as long as she could, but she was unable to pick him up when he kept falling down. Now he's at a nursing home going through rehab. And yet the wife of his youth has not abandoned him in his old age. She is there every day - to feed him, to take him to the bathroom so he doesn't need to lose his dignity, to bring him treats and happiness. What a lovely sight, to see her tender devotion to a man who no one would have once faulted her for running from. To see his once strong arms reach in trust and need to his wife, "Are you coming back soon?" To see her save him a piece of cake, "I'll take this to Ray later. He always loved red velvet cake." To see him cared for and clean and well-fed when so many were so lonely.

When I told Nana what a blessing this was for me, she told me how he had taken her from doctor to doctor and hospital to hospital when she had cancer, how he'd cared for her when she couldn't. I thought of Ecclesiastes:

Two are better than one,

Because they have a good reward for their labor.

For if they fall, one will lift up his companion.

But woe to him who is alone when he falls,

For he has no one to help him up.

Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm;

But how can one be warm alone?

Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him.

And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12


I commend to you Christian marriage. We are called to be a living picture of the eternal love between Christ and the church. Does it seem impossible to you? How can you love and sacrifice through all the hurt and hard times of this fallen world? I would recommend you see that your marriage is one of three strands: the two of you and He is who is able to make us able to keep our vows.

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Intolerant Tolerance

I am shocked to read that Great Britain literally has tolerance police. I've said for many years, that when we start on the slippery slope of limiting free speech in order to be "tolerant", we will fall headlong into tyranny. Speaking of a Christian arrested for handing out leaflets at a public park:

A spokesman for the police said the campaigner had not behaved in a violent
or aggressive manner, but that officers arrested him because 'the leaflet
contained Biblical quotes about homosexuality'.

Well, that's certainly provocative - and dangerous - someone quoting Holy Scripture! Handing out quotes from the Bible can now subject you to arrest in that so-called free nation. How much longer will we Christians be able to speak out about any sin, about salvation in Jesus Christ alone? The freedom to even quote the Word of God on the issues of the day is evidently gone in the U.K. How much longer will we have it? Up camels, mamahadeen, and speak up before you can't speak out at all.

Just in case you think this is spin-doctored, read the whole thing.

H/T WorldNetDaily