St. John the Evangelist - Ancient Faith, Modern Relevance

Recently, St. John’s reproduced a piece about the Girl Scouts and Planned Parenthood that has been reported in newspapers and on web sites (see, for example, www.c-fam.org/publications/pub_detail.asp?id=1589). One of our members, Ellen Appleton, herself a former Girl Scout, was alarmed and investigated the matter further. Here is the result of her efforts. She writes:

A federal judge ruled the National Day of Prayer unconstitutional Thursday.  She sited that the government cannot call for religious action.

I have a dear brother in the Lord has remarked several times about how ungracious Christians can be - and often are - toward each other. He has also opined that it is necessary for Christians to assume the best about each other.

While preparing for a Bible study recently, I decided to tackle the matter of health care reform. This was prompted by a convergence of two things:

To ———–
@2008 Linda Barrett
God knew what He was doing
When He gave you
that extra chromosome
the human earthly world
sees you as unworthy
While your tongue stumbles
as you read God’s word,
You carry the small child’s faith
to enter into His Heaven
Bishops and theologians
play by their own rules

At the Monday Night Women’s study at the Cook’s, a few of us gathered to discuss John 9 and how Jesus healed the blind beggar. We talked about handicapped people and how God uses them. I remembered a poem I wrote about ten or fifteen years ago. I also wrote another one, too. I’ll have to get this one out as well as the other one.

During Super Bowl 44 (or XLIV, if you prefer), commercials are shown which are highlighted as some of the most creative of the year. My favorite is still the series of "Wassaaap" commercials back in the late 90s.

A recent landmark study out of the University of Pennsylvania evaluated sixth and seventh graders undergoing abstinence-oriented education versus traditional sex education. The study looked at the percentage of each group that became sexually active within the next two years.

Only one-third of those students who received abstinence-focused education were sexually active within the next two years versus one-half of those who received the traditional abstinence and contraceptive oriented sex-ed. This is the first study to show a clear benefit to abstinence-only education.

Tim Tebow is the quarterback of the Florida Gators.  He led his team to two national championships and is expected to play professionally for the NFL.  He is also the committed Christian son of Christian parents.

When Tim's mother, Pam Tebow, was pregnant with Tim in 1987, she contracted ameobic dysentary while on a misssionary trip in the Philippines.  Mrs. Tebow's physician advised his patient to terminate her pregnancy claiming that the medications required to treat the disease would cause irreparable damage to her baby.  She refused.