Eastland eBulletin 10.14.07

For Your Benefit...

• The meeting begins Friday! We still have plenty of fliers and business cards to distribute.
• There is a meal list for brother Thomley. He will arrive on Friday afternoon and leave Sunday evening after church.
• Pick up your copy of the new pocket directory. Chuck has printed 4 per family.
• Be sure to read the new support letters. Copies are available on the table in the foyer.

Calendar

• Today (Sunday) — Kid's singing @ 4:25.
• Oct 14-19 — Valley Station; Douglass Hills.
• Oct 15-19 — Oldham Woods.
• Oct 19 — Taylorsville Rd (singing).
• Oct 19-21 — Eastland.
• Oct 21-24 — Mt Washington.
• Oct 26-28 — Overland (Lawrenceburg)

I see daily in the papers, on the Internet, and in magazines that "Superstar So-And-So Splits With Superstarlet Such-And-Such."

I don't care.

These celebrities are clueless about life, love and marriage. Their lives are monuments to themselves. Their careers are spent pretending to be what they are not. They regularly sleep around. They do nothing without a camera nearby. They require publicists to orchestrate and spin their every banal action.

Sunday, I celebrate the 18th year of my marriage to Alethea. Though our marriage has not merited headlines, I daily thank God for sending her to me and for saving me from myself.

I gratefully understand Solomon's sentiment, "He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord" (Proverbs 18:22). It thrills me to "rejoice in the wife of my youth" (Proverbs 5:18). I am proud to be known as "Hannah's, or Nate's, or Essie's Dad". I could never have dreamed of such bliss as this.

Thank you Lord. Thank you Alethea.

And, I pray that you never see us in a tabloid.

A — Adaptability — Cultivate a liking for one another's tastes.
B — Belief — Trust one another.
C — Children — Have one mind on number, gender, training.
D — Devotion — Don't just feel love, show it.
E — Entertainment — Keep one another amused & interested.
F — Finesse — Handle each other with love and tact.
G — Generosity — Don't be stingy with money, love or praise.
H — Health — Keep as well as you can, and don't give organ recitals.
I — Interests — Enter into everything the other one does. Play the same games, read the same books, like the same people, fuss about the same things. Find mutual interests.
J — Jokes — Learn to make them and take them.
K — Kindness — Never fail to show tenderness and sympathy.
L — Love — Never let your supply run low.
M — Money — This is for both and should be for the mutual happiness and well-being of both.
N — Need — Need each other. Make yourself necessary to your your partner's happiness.
O — Observation — See what you partner needs and supply it. Notice what makes them happy.
P — Politeness — Show as much courtesy to each other as you would a stranger.
Q — Quiet — Don't argue. Keep a peaceful home.
R — Respect — Show deference for the other's opinions & intelligence.
S — Sportsmanship — Take marriage on the chin. Don't whine and complain about hardship.
T — Tenderness — Whatever you are to others, be all heart with your mate.
U — Understanding — Know your spouse well enough to know why she cries when she's happy and why he burps when he's happy.
V — Virtue — No cheating on either side.
W — Willingness — Each must be willing to do his or her part.
X — X-tra Attention — Especially when the other is down or sick.
Y — Yes — Say it often. Say it sincerely.
Z — Zero — What your marriage will be if you don't do all these things.

This week, atheists and agnostics from all over the world will gather in Madison, Wisconsin for the 30th annual convention of the Freedom from Religion Foundation ("Atheists, Agnostics To Gather At Convention After Successful Year", The Courier Journal, October 12, 2007, p A4).

An atheist, of course, is one who denies the existence of God. He would say that God, the ultimate reality, does not exist. An agnostic, on the other hand, says that he's not really sure if God exists. He would say that God, the ultimate reality, simply cannot be proven or disproven, so we just don't know.

It would not be unfair to say, then, that this convention is a celebration of ignorance, uncertainty and denial.

In spite of this, it appears that plenty of folks are coming. Christopher Hitchens, author of God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything will be giving a speech. Julia Sweeny, "Pat" from "Saturday Night Live", presents a show describing how she gave up on God. And, membership in the organization is up 50% from last year, and now boasts some 11,300 adherents.

But wait, there's more! They have a special "Non-prayer Breakfast" in the works. Rather than beginning with a moment of silence or moment of prayer, they begin with a "Moment of Bedlam" where everyone bangs their silverware on the table, yells or reads poetry.

The high point of the gathering might well be the raffle for pre-1957 US dollars. It was in 1957 that the words "In God We Trust" were added to US currency. The winners will get $1's, $20's and even a $100 bill, all without references to deity.

Little wonder they had to drive all the way to Madison, Wisconsin to find a place suitable for this much gaiety.

Even less wonder that the psalmist said, "The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God'" (Psalm 14:1). When one is willing to deny reality or pretend that it is unknowable, that person has reached the zenith of self-delusion. Not even a "Moment of Bedlam" can hide such foolishness.

If this is fun, count me out.