Bag 'er and Tag 'er

New duffel. i'll let the pictures do the talking...

"Be nice to me, i Tried to give Blood today"

Yes, tried. i haven't been able to give since HS because of various meds and trips and such. Being type O, it's important, as it is for all of us. i went over and it started out badly. The poor woman pricked my finger off to the side and when she bandaged it, put the sticky part on the cut, so a few minutes later we looked down to see i had bled all over my hand and the table. Ooops.
While this was going on, the nurse came over and asked if i wanted to try some machine that takes your blood out, centrifuges it and removes the red blood cells, and puts it back in the same arm so they can get a full pint from just one person, rather than having to combine it with someone else's later to get a full pint of RBC's. Well, i tried. She was all excited about my good veins and proceeded to stick me fine but fish the needle around a lot before she got it going and then turned the machine on. i was lightheaded and wonky in minutes and had to stop. Not trying that one again. So i missed most of my History section with all that jazz and have to go again today. Fun times with the VA Blood Donation services.

Taking a Walk

Read this first. Trust me, will help you a lot before you read my entry.

It details the younger Falwell's call for people to step from behind the pulpit and go preach the Gospel at folks and tell them what is right and wrong.

i wish someone would step from the pulpit and have a news conference announcing that they were demanding other religious leaders to follow them into the streets to feed the homeless, care for the sick and visit the prisons and live out the gospel as opposed to preaching it.

The sentiment isn't wrong, but people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. In less than 300 years, Christianity grew from maybe 1,000 jews to 6 million strong in the Roman empire. Not by preaching, but by caring for widows and orphans and healing the sick and lame.

Francis of Assisi spoke my favorite quote ever. "Everywhere you go, preach the gospel...
...but only when necessary, use words."

This is Falwell's commission, Christ's own great commission was not "go and tell people what is wrong and right" (although it was implied in the code he lived by), it was "go tell the good news, the good news that i have lived and died so your sins are forgiven."

That's beautiful, not antagonizing or presumptuous.

Nearly every denomination of Christianity is shrinking in the "1st world" and growing in the "3rd world." Makes you wonder why, and i think the answer is true Christian community and the care of God's people, rather than words, pulpits, and so forth.

Some days, i dunno if i am up to that kind of call, or if i'll be able to inspire that in my youth or congregants. i sure hope so.

This just in...

You cannot be stealthy in a bright lime green Dodge Stealth at 65 in a 35 on Chamberlayne Ave at rush hour. You only make it 2 or 3 lights before screeching to a halt.