"Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and lean not on your own understanding." Proverbs 3:5 NKJV

This is a poem being sent from a Marine to his Dad. For those who take the time to read it, you'll see a letter from him to his Dad at the bottom. It makes you truly thankful for not only the Marines, but ALL of our troops.

We all came together, Both young and old. To fight for our freedom, To stand and be bold.

In the midst of all evil, We stand our ground, And we protect our country from all terror around.
Peace and not war, Is what some people say. But I'll give my life, So you can live the American way.
I give you the right to talk of your peace. To stand in your groups, and protest in our streets.

But still I fight on, I don't bitch, I don't whine. I'm just one of the people Who is doing your time.

I'm harder than nails, Stronger than any machine, I'm the immortal soldier. I'm a U.S. MARINE

So stand in my shoes, And leave from your home. Fight for the people who hate you, With the protests they've shown. Fight for the stranger. Fight for the young. So they all may have, The greatest freedom you've won.
Fight for the sick, Fight for the poor, Fight for the cripple, Who lives next door.

But when your time comes, Do what I've done. For if you stand up for freedom, You'll stand when the fight's done.
By: Corporal Aaron M. Gilbert, US Marine Corps USS SAIPAN, PERSIAN GULF

March 23, 2003

Hey Dad,

Do me a favor and label this "The Marine" and send it to everybody on your email list. Even leave this letter in it. I want this rolling all over the US. I want every home reading it. Every eye seeing it. And every heart to feel it. So can you please send this for me? I would but my email time isn't that long and I don't have much time anyway. You know what Dad? I wondered what it would be like to truly understand what JFK said in His inaugural speech.

"When the time comes to lay down my life for my country, I do not cower from this responsibility. I welcome it."

Well, now I know. And I do, Dad, I welcome the opportunity to do what I do. Even though I have left behind a beautiful wife, and I will miss the birth of our first born child, I would do it 70 times over to fight for the place that God has made for my home. I love you all and I miss you very much. I wish I could be there when Sandi , but tell her that I love her, and Lord willing, I will be coming home soon. Give Mom a great big hug from me and give one to yourself too.

Aaron

FREEDOM ISN'T FREE
....someone pays for you and me

"We can't change the winds but we can adjust our sails."

P.S. From this Blogger....I don't know anything else about this brave young man, but I pray God brought him home safely!

A really cool picture showing our opportunity to find God in everything that we do in any given day, and the sadness for those who miss His hand in their lives! 2 Chronicles 7:14

"If my people who are called by My name will
humble themselves, and pray and seek my
face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I
will hear from heaven, and will forgive their
sin and heal their land."

Pastor Dann quote:

"Satan is the prince of the power of the air. When we go to praise and worship, we gain air superiority over the enemy."

Sermon: "Face the Music" - 2 Chronicles 20:14-22

As vast armies came against Judah, the Spirit of God came upon Jahaziel, and he brought forth a prophetic word. They need not fear, the battle would be the Lord's. And when they began to sing and to praise the Lord (v.22 NKJ), the Lord set ambushes......for those who had come against Judah and they were defeated.

God's power is released through praise and worship. It is time for the church to face the music, so that the enemy will have to face the music. The word 'enemy' means anything or anyone that would keep you from reaching your full potential in the Lord.

We need to face the music before addressing the enemy (v.21) - The praise and worshippers went first and they never faced the enemy because their eyes and hearts were upon God. When your eyes are on Jesus, they're not on your problems. (see Psalm 149)

The enemy needs to face the music before us - Wouldn't you like to stop something from invading your life. Then confront it with praise. Sickness and disease are the enemy (among others). We have let these things overwhelm us for too long. Praise is a weapon of war. When the invaders (v.24) faced the music before God's people, they were rendered dead.

We also need to face the music after the enemy is defeated (v.26-28) - Sometimes when we go through a crisis, we forget about God after the crisis is over. In Luke 17, Jesus healed 10 lepers. they were obviously all grateful, but only one came back to thank Jesus afterwards.

We need to thank the Lord everyday for our deliverances.

I have been having a love affair with low-carbing for the last two years. Anyone who has never been there or has heard the hideous rumors about the life style, would ask WHY? They usually do it with a roll of the eyes or a wrinkled up nose.

Well, I'm here to tell you that I've lost 68 pounds (and kept it off). I've retreated from taking Diovan for high blood pressure, to a regular 110/78 reading. And, my favorite...my triglycerides went from 293, down to 122.

The first response is always...."Yuck, all that fat." Well, I'm not sure what the perception is, but I don't suck the fat on the edges of my steak! I do use full fat products, because low-fat products take out the fat and replace it with sugar. Fat gives food taste, when you remove it, there must be a replacement or the product tastes like cardboard. Check out the labels on a full fat and a low-fat label of the same product!

Each week I'll share a little more of my adventure, but for now Low Carb Connoisseur is one of my favorite sites.

I recently completed my first novel, Touched by Fire. It was accepted for the July monthly report by Writers Edge Manuscript Service. I'm on page 13 of the July report. The link at the bottom of my entry CaB1378705 will lead you to my first chapter in the section entitled Writers voice. I am currently working on the second book in the series, entitled E-Bomb, and have created a synopsis for the third book, entitled Nanotech Virus.

I begin with that preface because all of this diligence led to my latest mishap. I needed a new computer. So looking down the road at future circumstances, I decided on a laptop. The only problem with that is that any computer not built to the Stone Age, now has Windows XP. I had sworn that I would have to have my cold, dead hands wrestled from my Windows 98. I loved the little bugger. It acted like a friend. It felt familiar everytime I turned it on. I knew every curve, every glitch, every window.

Then the divorce happened and I was thrust into the hostile, unresponsive (especially when I hit the wrong key) world of the dreaded XP. Where, oh where did they hide my single click format? Well, determination took over, and vowing to overcome, I forged ahead. Thirteen hours later, I had deleted all the junk from my desktop that had an advertisement in it, installed the printer, scanner and digital camera, and the 15 programs I use on a regular basis.

Feeling pretty proud of myself, I decided to check out the CD sound. Mind you, I never paid any attention that there was no sound on startup or when the dial-up was dialing-up. Not knowing XP, I didn't know what to expect. Well, I stuck a music CD in and the screen came up showing that it was playing, but I had no sound. I spent 6 hours putting back the software that might have deleted a sound driver, rereading the book, standing on my head, and whistling the Star Spangled Banner (well I didn't actually, but I would have if it would have made the sound come on!) Finally I decided that my only recourse was to reformat the hard drive with the original CD and start again. I whined, I moaned, and generally made a nusiance of myself, but finally did it, put the Notebook back to 'factory-out of the box condition'. I felt dejected, but at least I had accomplished a task that I had never attempted before. I put the music CD in the tray. The screen came up that it was playing, but still no sound. I pouted, I ranted, I said a few prayers that I wouldn't go out and play in traffic, and I sat there, staring at the silent little bars moving up and down devoid of sound.

Last resort, I decided to call Toshiba (oh, by the way, I have the the A85-Satellite notebook) Here's how the conversation went:

Little man with India type accent: "How may I help you?"
Crazy woman with wild eyes: I explained the problem.
Little man: " Ahh, what notebook do you have?"
Crazy woman: "The A85."
Little man: "Ahh, are you at computer now?"
Crazy woman: "Yes."
Little man: "One moment please. Ahh, look along front edge of computer on right side."
Crazy woman bends over and looks at edge.
Little man: "Do you see little black wheel set into case?"
Crazy woman: "Yes"
Little man: "Turn wheel to the right."

Music blared from the speakers set into the top edge of Notebook.
Crazy lady, very controlled: "Thank you, have a nice day."

Then I proceeded to scream for the next four minutes. In revisiting the book, there is nothing in there about a little wheel! But I do love my new Notebook. This is turning into a marriage made in heaven. God is good! Soon, I'll be familiar enough with it to continue writing, instead of exploring.

P.S. I found the single click feature in the folders option. Love that single click!

My Pastor has an uncanny knack for coming up with quotable quotes. We joke that one day he will have the time to write a book. In the meantime, I'll be nice to ya'll and share....
The definition of CONFIDENCE:
"Having the outspoken boldness of the full assurance of being fully persuaded that God will do what He promised!"