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myThoughts

Sue Me Elmo…

Fisher-Price has released a Knows-Your-Name Elmo (http://www.fisher-price.com) that can, among other things, say your child’s name. I don’t keep up with these things, but I learned about the new doll from this disturbing news report – wait, before you watch it, I want you to know that it was disturbing to me for a much different reason that you might think.

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Some people might be disturbed by the ‘offending’ elmo comment, but it seems very obvious to me that this mother is looking to hit the lawsuit lottery. She says that she was upset to hear her son repeating the phrase, but plays it several times while the child is in the room. She said it was her son’s favorite toy – so much so that her son was “climbing up the counter, up the closets to get it”, but the entire time they film the news report James is ignoring his ‘favorite’ toy while his mother plays with it to show it to the news cameras.

Did she try re-program it? Did she take it back to the store for an exchange? Did she take the batteries out so her son could play with his favorite toy without hearing the offending phrase? The answer is, No, No, and can-I-get-a-lawyer-NO! She said she called Fisher-Price and they “didn’t even sound concerned”, as a parent I wouldn’t have been concerned about it either – I would have simply offered an exchange or sent her to tech support to walk her through re-programing it. But if I were a Fisher-Price Lawyer, I might be preparing my case, since this chick is sue-happy drunk with the lawsuit-lotto mentality!

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Ministry myThoughts

Distractions

I learned something interesting as I was watching a documentary about Border Patrol last night.  Drug smugglers from Mexico will use people who want to come to America as distractions for the border patrol agents to allow themselves a window to get their illegal imports across the border.  They send people across with a people smuggler and watch from the Mexican side how the patrol officers find them, where they come from, how they catch the illegal aliens, and then use that information to cross undetected.

I thought of a friend of mine, who is a magician (http://tru-magic.com).  He uses entertaining stories to distract his audience from whats really going on.  A simple waving of his hand, or making eye contact at just the right moment, delivering a punch line, these are the tools he uses to create the illusion of magic.  Distractions…

Yesterday I got an email from an old high school friend informing me that she was no longer going to accept the new gold dollar because the words “In God We Trust” have been moved to the edge of the coin instead of on the face or the back as in previous versions.  This fact was brought to the attention of many people when the US Treasury mistakenly minted several coins without the inscription on even the edge.  This upset many Christians and has resulted in several angry emails and email chains like the one I got today.  My friend didn’t seem angry, just adamant in Her decision to expressly not use the new dollar. 

Not to pick on my friend, but think about that for a moment.  There are Christians who have decided to ‘take-a-stand’ for God by refusing to use the new dollar coin.  I began to consider how they would make this stand.  Images of gas station clerks standing baffled as some stranger explains to them why they won’t except those ungodly coins as change come to mind.  Are we really so distracted from the great commission that this is what we allow to pass as taking a stand? 

The enemy has sent distractions across our borders and is watching us react, all while moving undetected in the process.  We are watching the left hand, while the right hand is doing that thing we needed to see.  I don’t believe we should ignore the attack on our faith in matters such as the inscription on a coin, or “under God” being removed from our pledge, or the Ten Commandments being removed from our court house walls, anymore than I believe the border patrol should ignore illegal immigrants crossing the border.  But aren’t these things simply symptoms of the problem? Isn’t there a better way to spread this Gospel than refusing to accept a coin?  We are focused on the left hand when our attention should be on the right.  Wouldn’t it be great if we actually showed people how to live the montra “In God we trust” instead of demanding it be printed their coins?

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Ministry myThoughts

My Bus Ride Home…

I wanted to get home early today so Stephanie could go to a church function.  I left work in hopes of catching an earlier bus than usual, but when I got to the stop, the bus wasn’t there. Valley Metro lost it.  Yes, its missing.  When I called, they told me that it was not on the GPS screens and they could not reach the bus driver over the radio.  The 4:30 bus is just ‘off the map’.  So I start cycling home, and I should have kept going…