These pictures was submitted by an Israeli soldier which as Paul Harvey says tells “the rest of the story”

THE TRUMPET by Bill Burns — January 6, 2009:
Anoint the shield and sharpen the sword, for I am with you to bring your enemies to defeat. I will go before you and shall also be your rear guard. Fear not and gird up the loins of your faith. Establish My principles in your life in this time, and you will see the goodness of the Lord, for I am with you to elevate you and bring you above all the works of the enemy. Come to Me in boldness and come with expectation. Lift up your hands that hang down, for you have endured the struggle, but now you must come forth as a warrior. Victory is assured; come and possess it. I am the Lord of Hosts, and I will lead you into battle. The battle is Mine, but you are My battle ax, says the Lord.

SMALL STRAWS IN A SOFT WIND by Marsha Burns
January 5, 2009: Beloved, I call you out of the whirlwind and into a place of clarity and order, says the Lord. You cannot have the insight necessary to be effective in this season when you stay in that whirlwind of activity and lack of self-control. You will need discernment in the days ahead to know and see the attacks of the enemy coming against you, to be armed for battle, and to wage an effective war. I will direct you and empower you, but you must position yourself to hear and receive from Me. Luke 10:19 Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

This picture of Lucy from MI won the picture of the month.  I am loving it.  The story behind it is that she has loved the snow since her first winter.  Now she is two and her smile and eyes show that the love continues.

Thanks to Hunter for introducing me to Fuze Refresh.

I received an email from a friend about an experiment that the Washington Post did in January 2007.  I had not heard of it or if I did I do not remember.   Below is what was in the email and a video of Joshua Bell preforming in concert.  The full Washington Post story is available on the internet.

A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousand of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule.

A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk.

A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition. (this is not entirely true. I watched the video and 2 ladies stopped and listened until he finished a piece and one walked by and said something to him and the other recognized him and stayed and complimented him. One up for discerning ladies!)

No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars.

Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats average $100.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of an social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?

I first had wasabi last year when I was helping serve dinner at a conference.  It is super hot but addictive.  I became introduced again in MS while visiting Fresh Market.

Here is some interesting information on wasabi:

Wasabi Peas is a guilt-free snack that offers chlorophyllin, known to be a cancer-fighting compound. When one eats them, the chlorophyllin attaches itself to cancer-causing substances to prevent the body from absorbing them.
Just 10 years ago, the fiery green mound served beside sushi at Japanese restaurants was only for those with daring palates and tolerance for heat. But today, wasabi, the Japanese version of horseradish, is a familiar condiment used to flavor a myriad of products, such as wasabi peas. Research is being conducted in Japan to determine wasabi’s ability to help prevent tooth decay. According to a recent article in The New York Times, Dr. Hideki Masuda, a research director of Ogawa and Company of Japan, is exploring the idea that wasabi kills bacteria in food; therefore, it has the potential to kill bacteria in the mouth.(wasabi toothpaste? That should wake you up in the morning)

While America struggles with the sub-prime and credit market crisis, Shariah Islamic Finance, also known as Shariah-Compliant Finance, is quickly infiltrating our financial markets – and bringing Islamic shariah law with it.  As one leading Islamic authority on Shariah-Compliant Finance has stated, it is “jihad with money.” In a new ACT! for America video, Joy Brighton, ACT! for America’s financial expert on Shariah- Compliant Finance, warns America of this chilling threat.

Up until this point our deployment to TX  was very trying to say the least.  Before I share this I want to make it clear that what went on is not condoned or tolerated by the Red Cross. The only reason I want to say something is the picture of how leadership sets the atmosphere even though the corporation, business or even ministry would never condone what was going on if they knew. A real warning that you best not loose contact with the people who work for you.

The man who was put in the position of manager was crude, rude and caused confusion to take over the whole camp.  From day one strife was so strong that now looking back I understand that it was demonic.  An example of his management was that the air condition in one of the trucks was not working and when the driver reported it he was told “tell someone who gives a rip”.  So the next day Chuck and I were given the same truck to drive to Houston on a very hot day without air when it could have been sent down the road to be fixed very easily.  We did not know at the time that it had already been reported so I reported it while Chuck was taking care of cleaning the truck.  I was told that it was not a problem it was only an inconvenience.

We had meetings every morning and every morning what we had been told the day before was thrown out the window and we were chastised for following orders he gave the day before.  He even told us that he had a language for us that he would not use when higher up’s were around.  All of this confusion trickled down the ladder and everyone was caught up in strife.  It got so bad that one day Dinah and I had a melt down and cried most of the day.  I look back and wonder why I did not realize the demonic force involved here and why did I not take spiritual authority over it.  I was so effected by what was going on that I did not discern the force behind it.

The day I had the melt down was Sept 22nd and we ended up being assigned that afternoon to go on a very important assignment to Orange.  A gentleman who had been there all along, but I had never seen before came out to give us special instructions and he looked at me and asked me if I was ok.  No one else in leadership had noticed or if they had they ignored me.  I responded no and he began to talk with me.  He started questioning me about my water intake and told me that I had to drink more water.  He was a basketball coach and told me he knew what he was talking about.  I thought he was nuts but I drank the two bottles that he went inside to retrieve for me and my emotions improved greatly.

The day after our day off we came to work for a new administration that had suddenly been put into place the night before. This young man was very polite and quiet yet a great leader.  With his entrance on the scene the confusion and strife left immediately.  It was as if God had come down with a sword and cut it away and brought light into our darkness.  What a relief.   However, the work there also started winding down from that point and within 5 days we closed the warehouse and left Kountze.   At least we had 5 days of good working conditions and our very next assignment included taking the truck with no air to the shop to be fixed….God is Good!!

On Saturday the 27th a group of us went to Houston to a Spanish community to deliver supplies.  It was a small store front with bars on the windows and we filled up Juan’s little office.  Juan told us that he was born in TX but was still considered a “wet back”.  He was very involved with the environment that the Spanish people were living in around the oil refineries.  There is a very high incidence of cancer, especially cancerous brain tumors and especially in children.  His voice has finally been heard and they are about to enter into a class action suit.   He and his wife have raised 5 children and one of his sons graduated from Princeton University and then law school and he is now associated with one of the top criminal lawyers in TX.

When we got finished unloading Juan invited us to experience Salvadorian food.  We followed him to the tiny neighborhood restaurant and had a new experience in cuisine.

The menu was in Spanish and the waitress did not speak English.  I ordered by the pictures and with the help of our host.  However, they put something in front of me and after I had eaten it and received another order I found out that I ate his lunch and he just sat there and smiled and did not say a word.  Poor man, he had to eat my lunch.  His was better.

This was our last day to work with our new Americorps friends and this day we had the pleasure of 4 of them along with Dinah, Chuck and I.  This was the most help we had the pleasure of having the whole trip.  This was also our last time out with supplies.  The next two days we transported people from Kountze to Houston to process out to home.  The first time we transported a van full of sick folk and we had a google map and a GPS and they were both wrong. Fortunately, one of our passengers was given another google map that was different and correct.   After that we knew where we were going.

The last day of September the warehouse closed down and we all traveled to Houston to be processed out.  There were way too many rental vehicles and so Chuck drove the van and I drove a car with Dinah as my companion to Houston to process out.  All the way to Houston Dinah and I prayed that we would get a hotel room for the night.

We went through the long process of being processed out and were told we would have to go to a shelter.  However, through the mercy of God and the favor with one sweet lady Dinah and I managed to get the last hotel room and we took Chuck along.  We had been sleeping communal for over 2 weeks, what was one more night.  We got a room at the Hyatt and it had two double beds and a pull out sofa bed.  It had a huge tv, wireless and a refrig.  We ordered pizza online, I went downstairs and purchased a salad and we watched a movie while we ate.  Talk about a tale of two worlds.

We flew home the next day saying good-bye to our new friend Dinah at the Atlanta airport.  Chuck came home very ill with an upper respiratory infection and I poked natural and over the counter medication to him the whole trip.  With that and prayers he woke up the next day much better.

I am still digesting all we went through and realizing that spiritually I still have a lot to learn especially in my reactions to the environment I am thrust into.  I failed in many ways with this test, so I am sure I will go through it again.  I feel I am in a season of the magnifying glass examining my heart, reactions and motives.  I believe we are in boot camp for the assignment that is ahead.  There are things in our lives that the Lord is trying to cut away so that we may be a part of what He will be doing in the Church in the near future.  It is very uncomfortable but non the less Lord continue on.

I thought prior to this deployment that I was pretty prepared for disaster.  The Lord has had me in training for the 2+ years we have been here.  However, I realized while away that I am not prepared as much as I thought.  I have to re-examine what needs to be in place.

We had our only day off on Sept 25th and at first we decided to just chill out at the shelter.  However, once it was lights on and everyone else was getting ready to go to work we changed our mind.  Chuck and I and Dinah were off on the same day so we decided to get dressed and go to the closest beach area which was south of Beaumont and Winnie Texas(picture above is Winnie just after Ike).  The beach we went to is called High Island  and Crystal Beach which is across from Galveston Island and is connected by a ferry which was not operating when we were on the Island.

We saw and smelled evidence of the storm surge from Ike about 5 miles inland to the shore. It is hard to comprehend the height and strength of the surging water.

Cars were washed from miles away and brought across the street from what was the beach.

This is the road that we drove on by the gulf on High Island as the hurricane approached.  There were originally 100+ second homes on this island and now there are about 9.

These were a few left standing.

Here is evidence of the ones in between the surviving houses that did not with stand the storm.

To me this picture speaks volumes.

We met a lady and her two daughters and grand daughter walking on the beach side of the street.  Mom told us that she had two homes close to the beach but there was little evidence that they ever existed.  They were searching for items left from her homes.  These were vacation homes and she did not have a lot of keepsakes she really would like to find except a black bowl her mom had given her.  She walked across the street and found her swimming suit about 300 yards from the street.  Her daughter went over to the same area and found a blue ceramic swan planter that her dad had given her mother when she was born. It did not have a chip on it.  We found plates laying on the ground that belonged to someone else that were in perfect condition but the kitchen they were originally in was gone.  As we searched I prayed she would find that bowl that was important to her, but it had not shown up by the time we left.

We headed back to Beaumont and took our Biker Momma,Dinah, to the Harley Davidson store where she got a black Texas cowgirl hat with sparkles and HD symbols.  I wish I had gotten a picture of her in it because it was just so Dinah.

From there we went to a restaurant that was recommended to us called Cheddars.  Man was it good. The ladies got a 12 oz boneless rib-eye while Chuck got baby back ribs.  The steak was served on a bed of thin slice fried onions with a fully loaded baked potato, and broccoli cheddar cheese casserole.  After a week of snacks and so so meals we felt we had hit a gold mine.

The second day at the warehouse they did not have enough supplies to send out the trucks.  They asked for volunteers to go to a FEMA feeding station and help.  Several of us jumped at the chance. Chuck, Dinah, Lou Ann and I piled into the van and off we went to the feeding station in Beaumont.  The kitchen was being run by a group from Mandeville, LA and this was their first day to be cooking.  They had been up all night trying to get to there and get set up.

These men cooked two great meals that day and they were great fun to work with.  They set up two tables and we stationed ourselves on both sides of tables and filled the clam shells with the food in front of us and slid it down to the next station until it had each course and then someone closed it up and carried it to those handing them out to those in line.  We served up between 7-8 thousand lunches that day in about 3 hours.

We were supposed to go back to Kountze after lunch but we found out that they needed help for the dinner feeding so we took a rest while they cooked.  Chuck, Dinah and I laid back in the van and others made a bed of cardboard.

At 4:30 we started serving up again as the National Guard lined up a snake formation of cars.  They finally stopped the line at 7:30 after serving 10 thousand people shrimp creole, salad, roll, water and desert.  We ate and left for the shelter sunburned from our scalp to our wrist, but feeling we had helped make many people’s lives a little better.