Ben Stein Commentary

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees.. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees. It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu . If people want a crèche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away. I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat. Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to. In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking. Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like this happen?' (regarding Katrina) Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?' In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found recently) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK. Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we mig ht damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK.Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.' Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says.

End Times

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I have been involved in several Women's Bible Studies and in almost every one, they suggest starting a journal. That way as you progress in your faith, you can look back and see how far you have come in your relationship with God and have changed for the better. I have not ever tried it, but I think it sounds really good. Here goes nothing......
So, today at work I was suckered into taking minutes at a Automotive meeting which entailed a group of men from dealerships finding ways to find good help. Anyway, one of the speakers was an instructor who will be teaching a Radio Frequency Indicatiors Device Class, sounds very technical, well it is! This is the way I understood this device......it is a tag placed on items to be purchased to track each item. It tracks the item from the time of manufacturing all the way until someone purchases the product and leaves the store. It can even track the temperature of a product in a semi during travel......these tags are already being used in Walmart, pets, cows, passports and many other things.......it will definitely save companies billions of dollars because it will be tracked if stolen from the loading dock or the front door........well, it sounds pretty cool, but it FREAKED me out.....All I could think about was 666! Is anyone else thinking that? Actually yes, the speaker even said so.....he said these exact words, "the devil is watching, that very well could be" YIKES! He also mentioned that humans have already implanted the bar codes into their skin! So, that leads me to ask, why don't any churches seriously preach about end times? I have never been to a church that did. There is some serious information that needs to be discussed. I have read the book of Revelation a few times, but have to admit it is a hard book to comprehend. So, why don't Christian pastors preach about it and let us know what is about to go down.....The way I have been taught by my parents is that the anti-christ will demand that everyone is implanted with chips, this will be his way of tracking everyone, everything that we eat, drink and sleep. There will be no more freedom and no more choices. If you don't deny GOD, you are going against the devil and you will be punished beyond belief! It's scary stuff and I hope that people (including myself) will stop and think about why they are on this earth and that is to worship and glorify God! Ok, I'll stop preaching......Another thing (oh not another rant) why don't you ever hear about Heaven and how good it is.....I have never been to a church service (and I've been to alot of BORING ones)where they talked about Heaven. Shouldn't people talk about it? My mom just gave me a book tonight entitled "Heaven" (go figure) because I was asking her all kinds of questions. So, maybe I can learn a thing or two about what God has in store for us who BELIEVE! I normally don't share my feelings on my relationship with God, but I have been feeling a little daring today and a little convicted.....this whole RFID thing got me all riled up! Why shouldn't I share what should be the most important thing in my life?!

Back By Popular Demand

Ok, so here we are......this is for you dad.....I think you're the only one who reads it. I'm not quite sure what to write about. I guess I could start with Bay's latest episode. Tuesday, she stepped on a piece of glass. She immediately started to cry, so I scooped her up expecting to pull out a tiny piece of glass. As I flipped her around on my lap, I noticed my pants were covered in blood.....oh! This is worse than I thought.....I took a quick look and thought it looked pretty bad. Fortunately, Luke was here and I asked him to take a look.....he agreed with me. In the meantime, Bailey was screaming for a band aid......I called the doctor and talked to a nurse. She asked me if it was open and gaping.....I said it was. She suggested I take her to the emergency room. I was a little frustrated with that. $150 copay compared to a $20 copay at the doctor's office, but what do you do? I called Nick and asked him to come home and take a look so I didn't take her in for no reason. Now, this really didn't take as long as it seems....Bailey calmed down and let me hold a washcloth on her foot. The bleeding did stop. When Nick got home, he agreed with me and Luke, so we were off.....we're 1/4 mile from Children's Hospital which is very convenient. Anyway, after a much shorter wait than our last visit to the ER....they agreed it was "gaping" but informed us they don't do stitches on the bottom of feet, so they would be putting butterfly strips on it. They also did an x-ray to be sure there was no glass left which there was not. Bay was a complete trooper! She didn't cry once.....she did wince every now and then and told the doctor "I don't like that." The nurse and doctor both were so surprised at how tough she was! After the hospital, we had to run to Wal-Mart to get new clean cotton socks (Dr's orders) for Bay to wear.....as we were walking in Bay said, "I was good today" Nick said "yes you were very good" Bay replied, "I want a donut" Can you believe it? She knows how to get what she wants! We figured she deserved it after the trauma.......So, lesson learned-Mom needs to double check the carpet when she breaks a candle! Sorry Bailey.......I did take pictures, but don't know how to get them off of my phone......they're pretty gross, so maybe that's a good thing!

Hilarious

So, I was vacuuming in the dining room and Bailey was in the living room nicely playing with her Elmo. It just happened to be "Potty Elmo." He comes with his own little potty. We purchased it for Ethan when he was potty training. I brought it out for Bailey to interest her in the toilet......anyway, I shut the vacuum off and turned around and Bailey was standing there holding her little potty saying, "I peed" ........Yes, she peed in the little Elmo potty in the middle of the living room......enjoy!

Bailey and I went to the zoo today. We normally try to get there at least once a week, but haven't made it since school started. We took along her best buddy, "Baby" Chloe (they were born a day apart)and her mom Andrea. It was a very fun time! I haven't been to the zoo with just one child in a very long time.....it was a good chance to reconnect with Bailey.......she is also very independent and likes to do things on her own. I think she enjoyed the day too......she had a great conversation with a gorilla and kept trying to kiss him.....I finally convinced her to blow him kisses.....it was adorable!

Bittersweet

I pulled up to school today as Ethan said, "Mom, I think I want to walk in by myself today." WHAT?!? I couldn't believe it.....Mr. Independent. So, I walked Chloe to her locker and Ethan went down the long Kindergarten hall all by himself....after I dropped Chloe off I did go sneak to his room to peek in the window and make sure he made it and there he was sitting there like a big boy.......so sweet. They grow up too fast!

Catch Up

Ok, so I can't even hardly remember how the first day of school went......it's been so long! The last day of summer was a great day! Grandma Mary came up with a cake she made for the first day of school. We took her to a spray park to enjoy their last day. We had a lot of fun......all I could think about was much my children were growing and how much I didn't want them to leave me. But the day did arrive.....Chloe and Ethan got up pretty quickly and already knew what they were wearing.....the morning went very smoothly even with adding a few chores to the morning routine. Nick stayed home from work so he could be with us to take the kids to school......which was very sweet! We took Ethan first, he walked right in and found his name on his desk....he sat right down and pretty much looked at us like, "when are you leaving?" So, we said our goodbyes and I slowly made my way down the hall without crying, I may add.....next, to the 2nd grade room. Chloe looked so much older than I like, but I guess she really can't help it. We walked into her room and she found her desk, saw some familiar faces and gave us the same look that Ethan did.....I'm so glad our children are so secure, unlike me who was quickly falling apart.......I made it to the van and started to cry, just a little bit, not like Chloe's first day of Kindergarten.....it sure makes it easier when your kids want to go.......what will I do when Bailey's gone? I can't even think about that right now! So, Nick took off to work and Bailey and I headed off to her very first movie, Space Chimps.....it was cute and she did really well sitting there with her boyfriend, Hudson and best bud "Baby" Chloe.....it was adorable.....When I picked the kids up, Ethan was grinning from ear to ear and Chloe wasn't smiling......Ethan had the best day ever and Chloe didn't like her teacher....."she yelled all day long"~well, it has gotten better for Chloe, I think the first day was just a little hectic for her teacher......