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In the News

Headline: Christian students censored at Nashville-area school
Pete Chagnon – OneNewsNow – 4/23/2009 7:00:00 AM

The Alliance Defense Fund has filed a lawsuit on behalf of students and parents against the Wilson County School Board in Tennessee.

Lakeview Elementary School students wanted to display posters that referenced God and prayer, but school officials said they had to cover up those references before the posters could be displayed.

The posters were hand-drawn by students and announced voluntary activities such as the “See You at the Pole” prayer event.

Nate Kellum is with the Alliance Defense Fund. “Well, Christian students shouldn’t be censored just for expressing their beliefs. They do not check their constitutional rights upon stepping [through] the schoolhouse gate,” he points out. “And yet that seems to be the philosophy of the school district here that they are selectively censoring their speech because, in their opinion, religious speech is inappropriate.”

Kellum says the school is arguing that the posters cause an Establishment Clause problem, and that some students might be offended if these religious students were able to express their beliefs.

He adds that ADF is merely asking the court to abolish the policy and allow the students to practice their First Amendment rights. Kellum expects a decision by Monday.

This is the situation where we’re believing that God CAN move mountains! My daughter made the above posters. This is the stand that my family has been called to take.

Without giving any other details, could I ask you to join us in praying for the Judge over this case? Please pray that the Spirit of the Lord would hover over him, and give Him wisdom and discretion. Pray that He will base his ruling on the upholding of the Constitution and on obedience to God rather than being swayed by the pressures of man.

Thank you so much! I’ll be back soon with that You and Your Girl post! 🙂
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A Taste of T.E.A.


What an amazing experience we had last night at our area’s Tax Day Tea Party! In our little city outside of Nashville, it was reported that we had 2500 people in attendance! 10,000 were said to have gathered at the State Capitol rally yesterday. This was definitely a bigger movement than our main stream media wants to acknowledge!


The people we stood with were “normal”, hard working, middle class people who care a great deal about our country and the turn that it’s taking. There was no hatred or violence spewed, but only a sense of camaraderie, community, and concern. The people gathered at our rally were not what the liberal media is calling “right-wing extremest”. They were friends, neighbors, and community leaders who came to express their love of God and country. We were proud to stand among them.


As our children were making their signs Tuesday night, I couldn’t help but wonder to myself: What are we doing? What are we teaching our children? And more importantly, WHY are we doing what we are doing as a family? (Besides participating in this rally, we seem to find ourselves also participating in a boycott of Pepsi, and refraining from spending any more money in Kohls until they become more “family friendly” again. And I’m not even mentioning the other thing we’re involved in right now!)

Then it hit me… First of all, we’re doing all of this because we feel that it is what God has called the Walker family to do. Secondly, we are living this way because the values we hold so dear are slipping away right in front of our eyes – and and in front of the eyes of our children. And the third reason we are taking these stands and making our voices heard is because our children need to see and hear us do this. They need to learn how to “not be silent”.

We’ve all been silent long enough! We’ve been “too busy to get involved” long enough! We’ve been too absorbed in the “now” of life to invest in the future. And, we’ve been too afraid of being “politically incorrect” and hurting feelings – so we’ve willingly “stuck our heads in the sand” hoping things would change and go back to the way they used to be.

Now, we are finding that our silence, busy-ness, and our desire to “not make waves” is costing every one of us way more than we were prepared to pay. (Not only in the expenditure of money, but in the loss of freedoms, morals, and values we never dreamed would disappear in our lifetimes!)

That’s why the Walker family made posters and stood several hours in the cold last night with 2500 other neighbors. We can be silent no longer.

Here are some pictures of the making of our signs. Before we started, we talked to our children about what we were doing, and about some key words they would be hearing/seeing on other posters. We let them choose what they wanted to put on their posters out of a list of slogans – making sure that what we carried was not hateful or derogatory in any way.

We also made sure they understood and could have a conversation with someone explaining their slogan and its importance.

We wanted our posters to be able to stand up, so we cut up a cardboard box and taped the cardboard on the inside of the folded poster board. We didn’t have extra yard sticks, so we used our crab nets from our trip to Florida. We taped the stick down to the cardboard. (It worked great, btw!)


And here are the results:



And this one seemed to be the “big hit” of the evening~ It was even acknowledged from a platform speaker as one of the best signs seen all day. I bet I had my picture made holding this sign 50 times! It reminded me of all the photographs I posed for when I dressed like Sarah Palin last Halloween!


One last thing~ Because of the talk about “pork”, we were all asked to bring cans of “Pork and Beans” to the rally to be donated to the Mt. Juliet Help Center.


And they were to be placed in these “pork barrels”. 😉

It was a great evening. Unless you watch or listen to a conservative news broadcast, you’ll probably never hear about it. But don’t be fooled… The “Silent Majority” is rising up again! PTL!

If you went to a tea party, please do tell… we’d love to have a taste of your T.E.A., too!

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Are You Going to a Tea Party?

No… not this kind… (Although I do love dressing up and playing “Tea Party!”)

I’m thinking more along the lines of this kind…

On Wednesday, April 15th, we’ll be heading to the one in Mt. Juliet at Charlie Daniels Park.


If you want to attend one, you can find your Tax Day Tea Parties in TN at this address http://taxdayteaparty.com/teaparty/tennessee/

Outside of TN – To find one near you http://www.teapartyday.com/Locations.aspx

And on a side note, please be praying for Mel (from A Voice for Moms). She’s organizing the Raleigh, NC Tax Day Tea Party herself! Way to go, Mel! We’re praying for you, and for everyone who is getting out there and making our voices heard!

If you’re planning on attending a Tea Party, here are some ideas for slogans for your signs.

* Remember~ We can speak out and stand up and still do it in a way that honors our Lord. If we really want to make our voices heard, let’s make sure we do it in a way that brings Him and His name glory – not shame! Sometimes, it’s the very ones trying to speak out for God, but who use voices that are hate-filled and unkind, that do more damage than good for the cause they’re trying to fight for. LOVE is the standard! We can’t help how others act and react, but you and I can choose to always act and react in love!


“Let everything you do be done in love (true love to God and man as inspired by God’s love for us). ” 1 Corinthians 16:14 (Amp)

(O.K. … I’m hopping down from my soap box now. grin.)

Love to you… maybe I’ll see you at TEA.
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A little of "this" and a little of "that"~

 

Do you remember this post – when I wrote about the Lord doing something in and through our family’s lives that I couldn’t speak of yet? (And some of you sent me funny e-mails about having another baby… that would have certainly been “big news” – no less than a miracle – but that wasn’t the that I’m talking about.)

And, do you remember the post on this article in the Truth and Triumph Magazine about being “Dangerous” Christians and our battle with the ACLU? —>This is the result of the two “thats” above. I can’t make any public statements in my blog about what is going on, but if you’ll click the link, you’ll be sent directly to a news release from the Alliance Defense Fund, and you can read about it on their website. You may even see snippets about it here and there on national news shows.What I can say ~ is that the five families involved covet your prayers. And, along the way, I can share what the Lord has been doing in my own personal relationship with Him as we have prayerfully walked in obedience to what He has called us to do. God has been so good to all of us. He has filled us daily with strength from His Word, and He has given us His peace as we move ahead in obedience to Him.

Matthew 5:14-16 from The Message is my prayer for us – for all of our lives – YOURS included:

“Here’s another way to put it:
You’re here to be light,
bringing out the God-colors in the world.

God is not a secret to be kept.
We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill.
If I make you light-bearers,
you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you?

I’m putting you on a light stand.
Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop,
on a light stand—shine!

Keep open house;
be generous with your lives.

By opening up to others,
you’ll prompt people to open up with God,
this generous Father in heaven.”
Matthew 5:14-16 from The Message

So dear friends and readers… that’s what’s been going on. I’m glad to finally be able to tell you. I’m so thankful for each of you ~ Thank you for your prayers and words of encouragement to me. You are such a blessing.

From one “light bearer” to another… Shine on, my friends… in whatever this and that that’s going on in your corner of the world. 🙂

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Wednesday’s WOTD: Pray

In light of all that is happening in Israel, I wanted to share with you some words from an Israeli Sister (Leah Ortiz) and Brother (Aaron Hecht). Both live and serve our Lord Jesus Christ in Israel. Leah is the mother of a teenage son who has miracuosly survived a bomb that exploded directly in his hands. Aaron is an independant journalist. Both are on the front lines in every way of the battle raging against God’s people.

I received this update last night and felt compelled to share it with you, and to ask you to join me in praying – especially for these specific requests. The beauty of the body of Christ is that we can join hearts with these brothers and sisters and play a major role in what God is doing all over the world.

From Leah Ortiz:
“As I am writing, Israel has begun it’s land incursion into Gaza. A general reservist call up was just announced as well, and my two sons, Ariel and Natan are waiting to see if they will receive a phone call to report to a military base. Tens of thousands are being called up, and the many believer’s sons already serving in the army are already in Gaza. . The middle east conflict is very complicated, and is what is called an Ancient Hatred in the book of Ezekiel chapter 35.

Please pray for the innocent and those who are not involved in hate to be spared. Please pray for our sons (in Israel) to be protected. Young men and women do compulsory army service from the age of 18, girls for two years, boys for three. Eighteen year olds grow up fast and become accomplished soldiers, who have the power of life and death in their hands at too early an age. War is a horrible thing that twists, maims and destroys the lives of human beings physically, emotionally and spiritually. We need much prayer.

We also have a Water Crisis.

Winter has come to Israel, and as a matter of fact began in December, for which we are all grateful as we have the most severe water crisis we’ve experienced for 80 years. We have one main water source for the whole country which is the Sea of Galilee, and for several years now we haven’t had enough rain to replenish it, and the underground aquifers and reservoirs. The water level of the Sea is so low that if we don’t have a miracle rainfall this winter, we will have to begin rationing water, or maybe we won’t be able to drink at all from the Sea of Galilee.

The rain has begun early, thank God. However, only an act of God will be able to solve the problem.”

You can read updates and her family’s incredible testimony at Lion of God – Ariel Congregation in Ariel Israel.

From Aaron Hecht (journalist):

(This part comes after an informative, lenghty explination of what is going on in the Middle East. You can read his entire article at the above Lion of God link.)

“…But there is one more major wild card in the Middle East and that is YOU!

YOU are the Body of Messiah. YOU are the citizens of the Kingdom of God and of His Christ, with Israel being the Embassy of that Kingdom in this world. YOU are the ones who will have the victory in the end.

But it won’t happen by itself. YOU have to DO SOMETHING!

I know you want to know what you can do, so I’ll give you three easy ways to get started.

1) Pray, fast and read your Bible every day. This will bring you closer to God and will make you a better servant of Him and better able to build His Kingdom. It will also keep you safe from the spiritual deception which Jesus said would be rampant in the world in the End Times.

2) Make God and your Walk with the Lord the main priority and center of your life. Confess your sin to Him, ask forgiveness and ask Him to help you become the person He created you to be. It will take time and it won’t be easy, but it’s more than worth it. If you want to save the world, you have to start with yourself, and you have to start with repentance.

3) Invest your time, money and efforts into the Kingdom and Israel, the Kingdom’s Embassy. The economy of this world is melting away, and the only investment that won’t fail is when you invest in God.

Invest your time in praying for Israel and the Jews, but also pray for your own pastor and the people in your own church. Pray for the town you live in, for your country, and for the leaders of your city, state and country. Pray for revival all over the world, and pray for the persecuted church in countries that have anti-Christian governments and/or cultures. Don’t forget to pray for the Believers in the Arab-Muslim world and Iran. Of course, please don’t forget to pray for the Believers here in Israel…

Things in Israel, and the world, are getting rough. But Jesus told us that we are not to be disturbed, for these things must come to pass.

So stay strong! Stay focused! Keep praying, and stay centered on Him!

I will see you in the Kingdom, and we’ll spend Eternity in His presence, and the memory of this difficult time will fade into nothing.”

Such incredibly wise words!

If you made it to the end of this long post, I thank you. 🙂 And, if you choose to join me in praying for these specific requests, our Middle Eastern brothers and sisters will forever be grateful!

“Always be joyful and never stop praying. Whatever happens, keep thanking God because of Jesus Christ. This is what God wants you to do.” 1 Thes. 5:16-18 (CEV)

May the Peace of the Lord be upon each of you today….

PS: Frappuccino Fun with Amy (or Friday Fun with Fanny – as my brother calls it) will be back from her break on Friday. 🙂

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