Life at a Lively Pace

As a kid, I loved “connect the dots” puzzles. There was something very satisfying in drawing one line segment after another until a picture emerged. There was one rule: you had to connect the dots sequentially. Otherwise, the picture you ended up with would, in all likelihood, not be the right picture.

It seems that James Cameron, Simcha Jacobovici and their cohorts have spent the last two years connecting the dots to a puzzle that revolves around the 27-year-old discovery of a tomb. They didn’t stop to make sure that their line segments were drawn according to the right sequences. Frankly, it appears that the dots they connected don’t even belong to the puzzle in question. The picture they have ended up with is not the right one.

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There is a heinous threat lurking in the neighborhood. One that could cripple, maim - yes, even kill. Everyone is vulnerable, no one is immune.

You thought you were safe. You’ve locked your doors. Your house has been armed with the latest in alarm systems. The shrubs have been trimmed low so as not to provide a hiding place for the menace. The 20-foot ladder has been locked in the garage. Valuables have been hidden. You have not only one Mrs. Kravitz, but five of them, on the Neighborhood Watch.

But it’s not enough. Danger is waiting at the doorstep - everyone’s doorstep. And it’s in plain sight.

The city council in Bristol, England is up at arms. They’ve distributed flyers to the most vulnerable, everyone living in apartments - particularly the elderly, warning the citizenry of the menace. Residents have been advised of the one precaution they can take that would remove the threat, but few are willing to cooperate. As such, enforcement of the precaution has been mandated, against the will of most citizens. They now have a deadline - if they won’t take care of it themselves by September 18, city council will do it for them. The residents are furious.

What is this great peril? What or who is stalking the neighborhood, raising the terror level to such a height that the city council is willing to force residents to comply with their demands?

Doormats.

Talk about a city that has nothing better to do than policing doorsteps. Don’t they have any crime to worry about? Or moving violations? Or park lawns to protect from dogs? Or, **gulp**, jaywalkers?

It’s been 5 years. Five years have passed and I still can’t get my mind wrapped around the events. It is still surreal to look at the NYC skyline and not see the towers there. My husband & I lived in NJ at the time, a half hour ride from midtown NYC.

I had gone to work early that morning. My boss, a chiropractor, was seeing an early patient. It was a gorgeous morning - comfortable temperature, sun shining and a blue, cloudless sky. Our patient came running up the stairs. “You’ve got to turn on the radio. A plane hit one of the towers!”

It was definitely an odd situation but not alarming at that moment. Within an hour’s ride (barring traffic), you could get to at least 3 airports, maybe 4. While plane accidents were not normal, they certainly were not unheard of. We (my boss, the patient & I) were speculating that, since the skies were clear and most likely did not contribute to the accident, then perhaps the pilot(s) suffered a medical emergency. Until the second plane hit. With a sinking feeling, the three of us realized that this was no accident.

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According to this news article, Osama bin Laden’s favorite song lyrics could be:

“I don’t really need to look
Very much further/farther,
I don’t wanna have to go
Where you don’t follow.
I will hold it back again,
This passion inside.
Can’t run from myself,
There’s nowhere to hide.

Don’t make me close one more door,
I don’t wanna hurt anymore.
Stay in my arms if you dare,
Or must I imagine you there.
Don’t walk away from me.
I have nothing, nothing, nothing
If I don’t have you, you.”

That could make for some really interesting reality TV - “Being bin Laden’s (4th) Wife”.

An interesting article was posted on CNN’s website today. One of their reporters managed to track down one of Osama bin Laden’s childhood friends. Khaled Batarfi recounts what they were like as children and how they changed over time. Several times over, he noted that bin Laden had the potential to become anything he could want to be. Well worth reading.

The very end of the article struck me:

In his heart and head, Batarfi believes the boy he once knew has become capable of terrible things. When he sees videos of bin Laden, he feels terribly sad.

“He still had the same voice, the same smile, the same way of talking.

“Only the message is different now.”

A series of events over the course of a life can have a tremendous impact. The physical appearance and mannerisms may not necessarily change, but the motives behind one’s actions surely do. Osama bin Laden started out as a believer of the Islamic faith. He still is, though his actions and the motivations behind those actions have shaped how he carries out the tenets of his faith. This believer became a terrorist and his followers, the insurgents, are crossing all sorts of boundaries to destroy the infidels.

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I believe that there are far more pressing matters in Christianity than whether or not Christ will return in our lifetime. While He was still on earth, Christ stated that no one except the Father knew exactly when this would take place. Yes, we are to be watchful and ready, but our lives should not revolve around eschatological questions we can’t answer anyway.

Newsweek has a web-exclusive article entitled “Q&A: Are These the End Times?“. (HT: JollyBlogger) They chose to interview Tim LaHaye, co-author of the Left Behind series. His views are a representation of eschatological possibilities, but not the only one. Unfortunately, his views tend to be promoted as the sole belief of all Christians. This was once sequence of questions in the article: More »« Less

(HT: Thinklings)

Talk about putting things into perspective!

Reminds me of a piece of a song from one of my favorite Broadway shows, Barnum:

“Bigger isn’t better,
Taller isn’t braver,
Stronger isn’t always wise.

Smaller isn’t necessarily the lesser,
Guts can come in any size.”

Given the bloody history of the region, odds would have it that this tiny little sandflea of a country should have been exterminated several times over since its inception as a state in 1948. However, Israel continues to exist as a nation because God allows it, just like He allows the rest of us to exist - nations and cultures, races and individuals. This article from John Piper gives a good, Biblical perspective on Israel and land.

"Wake up - sleepy head, rub your eyes, get out of bed. Wake up, the Wicked Witch is dead."

The Wicked Witch of the East was permanently silenced by an object falling from the sky.  Her reign of tyranny over the pint-sized inhabitants of Munchkinland came to a sudden and crushing end.  And there was much rejoicing (yay!). 

Odd how Abu Musab al-Zarqawi met his end in a similar manner.  All of us "sleepy heads" woke up to the news.  However, I didn't hear any vertically-challenged people with unnaturally high voices singing in the streets.  Could just be my neighborhood, though…

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