Posted by melodieshouse on July 25, 2009
This quote is misattributed to Abraham Lincoln, but it’s actually by Presbyterian minister and conservative thinker William J. H. Boetcker. It was published in 1916 in a pamphlet titled “The Ten Cannots.”
You cannot bring prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich.
You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.
You cannot further brotherhood of men by inciting class hatred.
You cannot establish security on borrowed money.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away man’s initiative and independence.
You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.
-William J. H. Boetcker
What happens when government does these 10 things? Socialism.
Posted by melodieshouse on July 13, 2009
Obviously I’ve gone a loooong time again without a new post. There’s been plenty to blog about, but actually, that’s part of the problem. Most everything I felt like carping on has been hashed and rehashed over so many times on other blogs that I really have nothing new to add. And yes most of it involves politics, especially Obama and both liberal-majority houses of Congress. I’ve been really busy lately with the kids and working from home without a babysitter or mother’s helper again and I honestly feel rehashing the news is a waste of time. I’ve even thought about taking this blog down rather than letting it languish but I’m not ready to do that yet. I still have things I want to say. And most of what I want to say now is mostly about my faith and my walk with the Lord. My About Me page says my blog will include discussion of the Christian faith, but there hasn’t been a whole lot of spiritual discussion on here for the nearly two years my blog has been up. There’s no way I can tell you in one post what’s transpired that is causing me to change direction, but I’ll let my story out in bits and pieces.
(more…)
Posted by melodieshouse on June 16, 2009
John 12:23-28 (from the New King James Version)
23 But Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. 24 Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. 25 He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.
27 “Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify Your name.”
Then a voice came from heaven, saying, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.”
The verse that stands out in this passage is John 12:24: “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.” Jesus, the Son of God, came to this earth so He could die. Likewise, whenever someone dies, they have a legacy that follows them. The seeds they’ve sown in their lifetime bear fruit on and on long after their gone. I mentioned Keith Green and shared a song of his in my last post. Keith Green’s headstone at his burial site has this verse engraved upon it. His legacy certainly lives on and continues, 27 yrs after his death, to stir up the fire within people’s hearts to serve God with their whole being. I feel this was not a coincidence that I was reminded again of Keith Green’s music, tragic death, and legacy just within the last 2-3 weeks. Last night a young man my husband and I knew got shot in the head during a robbery attempt. He died this morning. He was a Christian, and he was only 22 years old. He touched the lives of a lot of people, sowing seeds so to speak. Pray that those seeds will grow and bring forth much fruit (grain), and that what the enemy meant for evil, God will use for good.
I’m going to end this post with these passages:
Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
Romans 8:35-39
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written:
“ For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”
37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Posted by melodieshouse on June 5, 2009
Lately I’ve been reminded of who I am in Christ and of His love for me. I feel I must share this song with everyone.
I’ve been weary with daily life and the things of this world for several years, I’ve even dealt with depression, but over the last few days I’ve been listening to the music of Keith Green again for the first time in about 6 or 7 years. Once again I felt the Holy Spirit literally pouring out of the speakers, and the tough layers of skin, like bark, are starting to peel away from my heart. I will post more about what I’ve been going through in recent years when I feel ready, but for now, be blessed with this song. Keith Green made this demo shortly before his very untimely death in 1982 and it was never recorded in the studio. It made its way onto a video called First Love: A Historic Gathering of Jesus Music Pioneers
that was a reunion of 1970s Jesus Music artists – they were the earliest players of contemporary Christian music.
Posted by melodieshouse on May 29, 2009
Finally, 5-1/2 weeks after the power supply failed on my iMac G5 *again*, and almost a month after I sent in a defective power supply for a warranty replacement, I received the new part today and I’m happily working on my iMac G5 again. Due to poor communication on the part of the company I purchased the power supply from, I will no longer be doing business with them (my husband and I have purchased Mac parts from them several times for clients as well as ourselves). So we have to find another supplier of new parts for out-of-warranty Macs. Oh well. But I’m very happy to have my iMac back up and running, because that lil’ ‘ol G4 iMac is getting rather long in the tooth and it was neither powerful nor fast enough for me to efficiently get my work done.
Posted by melodieshouse on May 25, 2009
Someone sent a link to this video via a homeschoolers’ list I subscribe to. This is an interesting role reversal. I’m not sure if I should laugh or cry at this one. Listen carefully to what the kids are saying about their parents.
Posted by melodieshouse on May 21, 2009
Unfortunately Wordbook does NOT work in Facebook like I expected it to. It only posts a link to new posts to my wall and doesn’t display my feed in Boxes like the author said it’s supposed to. So I installed WPBook by John Eckman of Open Parenthesis instead. This plugin mirrors the most recent posts of my blog to Facebook and comments can be left from within FB and they also post to my blog site. This is just what I was looking for! WPBook by default shows the last 5 posts in their entirety and links the 10 most recent posts. I edited some of the plugin’s .php files to set my list of recent posts in WordPress to the max of 15. I wish this plugin could show 50+ items like FB’s Notes does but WPBook is much better because users within FB can see my posts in their entirety and comment within FB and it’s like commenting on www.melodieshouse.com. You can also link to related posts, even if they’re old, and WPBook shows them in FB. I give WPBook a hearty thumbs up.
However, there’s a couple of things I’d like to see WPBook do in future updates. 1st, I’d like to see it post an update to the home page and wall whenever a new post is added. 2nd, I’d like to see the ability to view blog posts from a tab within my profile. Mr. Eckman, did you get that?
Posted by melodieshouse on May 20, 2009
I decided to install a new plugin called Wordbook from Robert Tsai of Tsaiberspace to crosspost from Melodie’s House to Facebook, let’s see how it compares to just importing my feeds through FB’s Notes.
Posted by melodieshouse on May 17, 2009
I was listening to internet radio tonight and the Billy Joel song “Just the Way You Are” played. I can’t help but get very sentimental over this song. It says very much how I feel about my husband. I love this song because it speaks of a mature, lasting, unconditional love in a relationship vs. the romantic, “falling in love” type love.
Here’s the words:
Don’t go changing, to try and please me
You never let me down before
Don’t imagine you’re too familiar
And I don’t see you anymore
I wouldn’t leave you in times of trouble
We never could have come this far
I took the good times, I’ll take the bad times
I’ll take you just the way you are
Don’t go trying some new fashion
Don’t change the color of your hair
You always have my unspoken passion
Although I might not seem to care
I don’t want clever conversation
I never want to work that hard
I just want someone that I can talk to
I want you just the way you are.
I need to know that you will always be
The same old someone that I knew
What will it take till you believe in me
The way that I believe in you.
I said I love you and that’s forever
And this I promise from the heart
I could not love you any better
I love you just the way you are.
I don’t want clever conversation
I never want to work that hard
I just want someone that I can talk to
I want you just the way you are.
I just had to include a video. This is a fairly recent live performance. Enjoy!
Posted by melodieshouse on May 9, 2009
I only started shopping at Trader Joe’s a little over a year ago, and I had to travel 45min in good traffic to get there. I must say I was hooked after only one visit, and pretty much every 2wks when we got paid I’d make my “pilgrimage” from Virginia Beach to Newport News for my Trader Joe fix. IMNSHO, Trader Joe’s has got to be the best little grocery store there is. It has lots of organic and wholesome foods with no preservatives, additives like MSG and junk like high fructose corn syrup in them, inexpensive but decent wines (like the Charles Shaw brand AKA “two-buck Chuck” AKA “three-buck Chuck” here in VA due to ABC taxes), wonderful breads and cheeses, and nuts and dried fruits, at prices that usually beat regular grocery shelf stuff. And their stuff is soooo good and high quality too!
Trader Joe’s has been in Newport News for nearly 4yrs, but as of yesterday, May 8, they finally opened a store in Virginia Beach after much anticipation and petitioning by loyal customers. It made the local news:
Crowds and long lines greet Trader Joe’s opening at Hilltop
I didn’t go yesterday, no way was I braving that crowd, but I’ll probably go early next week, then 2-3x/wk after that from now on, since I can get my Trader Joe fix anytime now that Joe’s in town!
Wisdom for today – The Ten Cannots