I received this in an e-mail and encourage you all to take the time to read it and hear what this one person is saying.  Continue to pray as a person of such influence is leading so many lost astray.

I take offense to every man and woman who decides that it is now “uncouth” to say “merry Christmas” and force me at work to say “Happy Holidays” for fear of losing my job or other retribution.  I take offense to every person who decided that suddenly we are no longer allowed to sing carols in schools or hang Christmas decorations, such as a tree, at the risk of a child who doesn’t celebrate Christmas feeling intimidated or pressured by the greenery or pleasant music that most people have waited all year to hear.  I take offense that suddenly the holiday that I celebrate as the birth of my Savior, which had already been commercialized and celebrated by the majority of Americans unless Jewish or otherwise religious (in other words, not the ones complaining) is just now offending people that grew up celebrating the same holiday and will probably receive presents and get a Christmas tree (not a holiday tree).

I take offense that Christmas is now a political issue rather than a spiritual issue.  But most of all I take offense that it doesn’t matter what offends me, because I am Christian.  I take offense that my rights are not the same as atheists, agnostics, scientologists, or whatever else people want to call themselves.  I take offense that I am told to keep quiet about my views but am expected to hear others shouting profanities where my children are playing and learning.  I take offense that 5 year olds come home saying the f-word having learned it at public school from a classmate and I am told by others that it is simply freedom of speech, despite how I would want a child raised.  I take offense that I have to lower my morals to meet everyone elses.

I weep for this country that I love because when the men that created it wrote our constitution, they PRAYED TO GOD for guidance and for direction.  I weep for this country that I love because that same constitution is being walked all over by judges who have decided to overstep their boundaries and start creating laws (because our elected officials aren’t doing it anyway).  I weep for this country that I love because I see it falling to pieces and crumbling before my very eyes.  I weep for those who are lost and yell to throw me in jail because I speak against homosexuality (I don’t hate the homosexual..I hate their sin…the act of their lifestyle, I love them as persons and if that is worthy of a hate crime then I am guilty).  I weep for those who are lost and yell that they not only hate this war but hate the soldiers who hate been risking their lives to fight for their freedom to yell.  I weep and cry out to God to come save us from this and yet give us more time to save those souls who are so incredibly lost.

So here I stand wishing everyone a politically incorrect Merry Christmas, praying for the lost, and weeping for my country that is so lost in the sea if sin.

I have always been very vocal in support for my country and for its leaders (even when I don’t always agree with them) but when the 2008 presidential campaign began I felt discouraged and about as apathetic about the whole thing as I have ever been.  To be blunt, I didn’t like any (not a single one) of the candidates, republican or democratic.  As soon as I thought one might be hopeful, I read more and discovered some irregularities in their patterns (voting versus promised, outlandish campaign promises, all around crummy, dirty politics for some).  It broke my heart that I did not feel that I could back a single candidate, that America could have so many “poli-tics” running for office (Kyle says the definition of politics is “many blood sucking insects” and in this case I agreed with him).  Then I found my hope.

His name is Mike Huckabee, past governor of Arkansas and someone who hasn’t said one thing to one activist group and then the exact opposite to another opposing group the following day (a rare find on the campaign trail).  He is republican and conservative but has some views that would upset a lot of the GOP and bring a smile to the face of a Democrat.  He is a good guy who wants to bring a little civility back to the Capital (which is long over due).

He isn’t a front runner but he should be and has my vote.  If nothing else, I don’t care if you agree with my or not, please look at the issues of the candidate you are thinking of supporting.  Please don’t base your vote off of their campaign speeches; check them out.  Find out where they stand on the issues that make a difference to you and your family.  If you don’t know what those issues are, start there, making a list of some things you want changed or some things you want to stay the same.  I promise all of those will or should be on the candidates websites with their stance (and some with their voting record which always needs to be checked).  The most important thing in elections is to be informed on all of the issues, not the ones the media or the candidates decide you need to know.  You decide, educate yourself and make the vote worthwhile (especially the primaries which count more than most people realize).

for anyone who didn’t know, the shuttle Endeavor re-entered our atmosphere a couple days ago (Tuesday).  Now most media coverage had been on a single panel that was damaged and “would it be safe at reentry.”  Funny thing is, because of all of this commotion, I forgot that for the first time since the Challenger in 1986 there was non-military personal in the for of a teacher on board.  This young lady was a full working member of the crew and I can’t even imagine what she’ll be able to teach now.

When the shuttle enters there is something that is called a sonic boom.  Typically this is silent and most people don’t realize that it has happened until they watch on the news, “oh the shuttle is back” in a passing fancy.  This time, I don’t know if it was because of the trajectory or where the shuttle came in exactly (I’m definitely not an expert on these things) but that silent sonic boom shook our house!  It was amazing!  We were sitting, doing nothing special, and what sounded like a huge pop shook the house from the top down.  My dad jumped up (he’s the one who is into the space program) and ran outside, saying “That was it!”  My mom and I followed, and we knew we couldn’t see the glider from that distance but it was a natural reaction I suppose.  We then went inside to turn our satellite to the NASA channel and sure enough, there was the shuttle in it’s final decent.  It landed beautifully and just looking at it, one wouldn’t have guessed it had gone through a re-entry at all, near pristine (using the phrasing from the post conference).

That damaged panel was handled with all the caution in the world, and upon inspection after return, it was “minor” in a sense.  The success of the mission should have been all over the media, the monumental fact that a teacher was on board gaining new information and knowledge for education, the experiments, the work that was a great success that caused the mission to be a success should have been on the media.  The biggest problem is that our media today sees a necessity to publish the depressing, tragic story because that’s what gets an audience.  People don’t watch the news to hear about the good in the world, they don’t seem to care.  They watch for the horrors, so they can then go and complain about them.  There is so much more going on outside of the tragedy of the middle east, the shootings in schools, the death and destruction.  I’m not saying to turn news media into storybook rainbows, but until the people (which determine the run of the story) will watch more than just hate and evil, that is all we will see.