What's been on my mind...

I've been so busy with school, I really haven't had the time or desire to even log on here, much less update regularly. I am pledging now, however, to blog every Sunday! It's supposed to be a day of rest, so I ought to have time to write a few lines, right?

Life isn't any easier since I last posted. School was fun for the first month, overwhelming for the second, and now I've settled into a nice groove. I can hardly believe my first final is in eight days!

I'm working on a speech about abortion, and lately I've been reading some things about it online that make me smile, or break my heart.

Here is a 72-year-old minister who has started a late-term abortion clinic in Texas. Quote: "Am I killing? Yes, I am. I know that." He also says the 'hardest ones' are the NINE and TEN year old girls. This makes me so angry! Who gets a nine-year-old pregnant, and who takes her to get an abortion? What grandfather-aged man starts a business of killing babies? How on EARTH is this okay?

And here's a quote by Regis Nicoll, from this link:

"I dream of a day...
When abortion is not rare, but non-existent.
When “family planning” clinics go the way of drive-in theaters;
and their practitioners, the way of keypunch operators.
When every child is welcomed into this world, regardless
of her condition or her parents’ preparedness.
When a large family is praised and encouraged, rather than
frowned upon because of its environmental footprint.
When every child has a family with a mother and father to love her,
care for her, and nurture her into healthy, mature adulthood.
That is my dream."

I am so glad I found this site. These pictures of aborted babies are amazing and horrific at the same.

Here's an encouraging story about a girl rescued from prostitution who had nowhere else to go:
http://www.sharedhope.org/what/storiesofhope_tanya.asp

A girl close to my age has died in Arizona. She was purposely run over by her Iraqi father, who felt she was becoming 'too westernized'. Sick.

One more Regis Nicoll quote:

"While it is true that our nation enjoys a rich diversity of faith
expressions, that diversity is not the product of religiously pluralistic values
but, rather, of Christian notions about individual freedoms, including,
foremost, the freedom of religion. There is a reason why culturally Christian
nations consistently lead the world in religious liberty, while Muslim, Hindu,
and secular nations lead the world in religious persecution."

Lastly, here's a fascinating story about a Muslim-turned-Christian girl who is afraid for her life. And she's from right here in America! I am definitely keeping her in my prayers.

This cartoon made me laugh.

"God does not play dice with the universe: He plays an ineffable game of His own
devising, which might be compared, from the perspective of any of the other
players [i.e. everybody], to being involved in an obscure and complex variant of
poker in a pitch-dark room, with blank cards, for infinite stakes, with a Dealer
who won’t tell you the rules, and who smiles all the time." – Terry Pratchett
& Neil Gaiman, Good Omens

I like this quote! Do you ever get the feeling that when we're freaking out, God is grinning from ear to ear (metaphorically, I suppose) because everything is really going to be okay and he's just waiting for us to catch on to the secret to 'inner peace' and cast our cares on him?

So... that's what's been on my mind.