The Reagan Diaries

I've been dipping into The Reagan Diaries while Hal's been reading it preparatory to writing a review. Wow. I don't have much time this morning, so this is going to be pretty telegraphic, but here are my observations:

Reagan was real. He was the same guy in private he seemed in public.
Reagan was a real Christian. Great quote to follow one day later.
Reagan was totally on top of the issues.
Reagan was a totally likeable and engaging person.
The presidency is incredibly stressful.

It's great, you'll love it, go buy it!

"The Suckers Tickle Your Throat on the Way Down"

This is Pineapple Squid Curry, which our son was served for supper last Sunday night. He's craving homecooking a bit (No!).

This week he was delighted to find a grocery store with a few Western things like butter, cheese, and onion bagels. This morning he found a pan in the apartment, figured out how to work the gas stove, burnt the butter three times, and frambled* some eggs. He put a couple of slices of cheese on top, buttered the bagel with his chopsticks and had a comfort food fest.

Grandfather likes "fresh" air**, so keeps all the windows open and the air conditioner off. Near as we can tell, the weather in their city is just exactly like it is in Raleigh - every day. I know, weird, but the temperature in the two cities always seems to be within two degrees. Go figure. Anyway, it's just as hot there as it is here! Our son is delighted to have a window air conditioner in his own room that he turns down to 68 degrees and lies in blissful comfort.

*Frambled is our families terminology for the cooking technique a lazy boy who wants scrambled eggs. but not two dirty cooking dishes uses: Crack the eggs into the hot skillet and stir like mad :-)

**Fresh is used here only to denote outside air. The air in this part of Asia could not be described as fresh in any way, shape, or form. The pollution there is enough to make even a conservative like me appreciate the EPA.

"A Legislative Solution"

I was disgusted but not surprised to hear today that Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi would like to see "a legislative solution" to talk radio. What? That's right, they would like to see government control of privately funded speech because they don't like the content of it. Folks, that's not a solution, that's censorship and it's expressly forbidden by the First Amendment:

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.

That is precisely what is meant by "no law" "abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press;" ladies!

The liberals have been confused about censorship for a long time, though. If people tried to persuade a store not to carry an obscense book or a school not to require the children to read an inappropriate book, they screamed censorship. Friends, choosing not to sell something your customers disapprove of is not censorship. Not requiring something is not censorship.

Censorship is government control of speech and publication --- and that's what they are calling for now. Because, in the liberal mentality, if the poor dumb citizenry won't choose to believe or do what you want them to, then use the force of law. There's another name for that: tyranny.

The Episcopal Church Bats Zero Again

The ability of liberals to hold two antithetical ideas at one time never ceases to amaze me. Today, the Episcopal Church bats zero again in its reaction to the rogue "priest" who claims to be both Islamic and Christian in today's WorldNetDaily:

A veteran Episcopal priest says she became a Muslim just over a year ago and now
worships at a mosque Fridays – but that hasn't stopped her from donning her
white collar Sunday mornings. "I am both Muslim and Christian, just like I'm
both an American of African descent and a woman. I'm 100 percent both," Rev. Ann
Holmes Redding told the Seattle Times.

It is sad enough that someone could seriously think that being both a Christian and a Muslim is compatible, but that her authority in the Episcopal Church also doesn't get it makes you want to bang your head on the wall until it runs with blood:

Redding's embrace of Islam has been affirmed by her bishop, Rt. Rev.
Vincent Warner, who thinks the interfaith possibilities are exciting.

Whatever happened to:

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes
to the Father except through Me.

How can that be compatible with a religion that says Christ is only one of the prophets and not as important as Mohammed?

And that doesn't even address the question of Christ's diety! Please! Can we at least be consistent and logical? I'd love to see even some basic common sense in this body!

Gone Fishin'

We're up at the Lake and I'm very surprised to find a wifi network that we can access tonight. How strange - we don't even have a telephone or tv up here! I'm so glad I can give you an update.

Number one son is feeling much better and seems to be finding his sea legs in the new environment. I am so thankful!

David caught his first fish - a little catfish - yesterday! And Samuel caught his grandpa - a huge granddaddy of a cat - about 18 inches long and a good five inches across the head. That old fellow was delicious!

We are all enjoying a much needed rest with lots of fishing, swimming and swinging - in the hammock that is! Hal is doing a combo rest and work thing - Monday he has a very important customer call ( and hopes to get an appointment for another - you could pray about that) and another call yet on Tuesday. We so appreciate your prayers for God's blessing on our endeavors - and for His soon provision.

The rest of us will reluctantly be coming back to reality in a few days. In the meantime, if I can get another signal - I've been writing one of my blog rants in my head for several hours - can't wait to share it with you!

A Hunger for Spiritual Things

A dear friend of mine, iykwim, went to visit an "official" church in a closed country this weekend. He was very surprised to find a very lively crowd and service that was packed out. I mean they had full overflow rooms and even the halls were full. He said folks were singing and praising with full hearts. It was incredibly moving that even under the strictures and observation of an unfriendly authority that folks were beating down the doors to hear any truth at all. "He who seeks Me shall find Me, when he searches for Me with all his heart." Dear Father, please send workers into the harvest that all who seek may speedily find! Amen. Come Lord Jesus!

Sick in Asia

Thank you so much for praying for our poor dear son sick in Asia. He's feeling a good bit better and just went in to work (remember it's Wednesday morning their time). I'm about to talk to him, so we may have a further update later.

Prayer Alert

Our son has come down with what we call "the epizootic" - meaning some unidentified stomach illness - probably short and nasty. He's started some meds and taken the day off, but we'd appreciate it if you'd pray for him.

He wanted me to tell you that being sick in Asia is no bed of ease - he's felt floors more forgiving than his bed. Seriously, you wouldn't believe how firm a firm bed is in Asia. I told him it would be very good for his back - if he survived the first couple of weeks :-)

Just wanting to hear his voice

We haven't talked to our son for more than a sentence or two on his uncle's cell phone, but we found out yesterday that his uncle has given him a cell phone of his own. Wonderful! Can we afford to call it?

We've used Skype for some time. If you download Skype (10 minutes for the whole process for us), you can use the mike and speakers on your computer to talk to anyone else who has Skype in the world -- Free! You can also buy "SkypeCredit" which will allow you to call landlines or mobile lines at extremely reasonable rates: $29.95 for unlimited calling in the U.S. or Canada for a year. Calling Asian land or mobile lines is 2.1-2.4 cents a minute! That is amazing to someone as old as I am! I remember how excited we were when we got our long distance service here in the U.S. for 15 cents a minute!

I also gave our "customer no service" cellular company, Alltel, a call and they actually came through with something at least possible: For $3.99 a month, we could call Asian cells for 20 cents a minute. It sure isn't Skype, but we'll be able to call wherever we are.

Why do I call Alltel our "customer no service" company? That's a story for another day! I'm just about to head out to the Tea Room with a dear friend. Oh, I hope the children don't mess up the house (Hal is here, but very distracted with business)!

Update: I forgot to mention that Skype is secure - that's a great plus when you are phoning into countries who don't value privacy.

Pray for the Persecuted Church

I have just been reading a website about the persecuted church. It really made me sad how asleep we, their free brethren, are to their needs. Why do we seldom hear a call for prayer for our suffering brothers and sisters? Why are we not raising funds to support their families while they are imprisoned? What would we need if the head of our family was taken away? I know first hand that in one country where many are persecuted, that a dollar will go 7-10 times as far as it will here. Let's hear their cry!

For obvious reasons, I will restrain myself and not publish a list of sites here, but if you google "persecuted church" or "persecution" and country names, you'll find a lot to pray about and many to help. Please help.

Safely Met!

Our son has been safely met by my brother in Asia!

Must tell you all that I felt an urgent need to pray for him this morning after his plane landed, probably while he was clearing customs - sometimes a challenge in that country. After some time, I felt a release and didn't need to pray anymore. Just a few moments later, the phone rang and my brother was calling, "I've got your son." Amen. Thank you, Lord!

Homeschool Moment: The Great Circle Route

Tonight over supper we were talking about the flight our eldest son is taking today to Asia. We first looked at the flat world map on our kitchen table (I covered it with roll plastic bought at Wal-Mart and we've got a US one on there, too - we have a big table!). It looked pretty obvious that his plane would travel right across America and the Pacific to Asia. Not so, Grasshopper! I asked one of the children to run go get the globe. If you hold a piece of string between where you are and where you are going in Asia and try to get the string as short as possible, you will be surprised at the actual route. It is much closer to travel north to go west to Asia from the U.S. East coast! It's called the Great Circle Route! Check out this Great Circle Mapper. It looks confusing, but just type in two airport codes (you can look them up on the same page and map! For example, if you type in "JFK-NRT" (JFK, New York to Narita, Tokyo, Japan) and press "Display Map" it is amazing! You may not recognize the continents at first because you are looking down at the North Pole!

BTW, we'd sure appreciate prayer for Eldest Son! He has just a little more than an hour to make it through one of the busiest, most confusing airports in the world to make his connection and his plane is running a little late!