Manhattan Declaration

I just heard about a development that I will probably give some serious thought to over the next few days, in an effort to try to digest. It is called the Manhattan Declaration. There was a group of 150 religious leaders from many Christian backgrounds that issued the Declaration on November 20, 2009. Their intention is to call people of faith to stand against the secular agenda in our country. I have not read all 4700 words yet, but below is an excerpt I extracted from a news story by Tom Strode and Michael Foust.

"[W]e will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia, or any other anti-life act," the statement says, "nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent, or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality and marriage and the family. We will fully and ungrudgingly render to Caesar what is Caesar's. But under no circumstances will we render to Caesar what is God's."

To read the document, you can go to ManhattanDeclaration.org

Celebrating 42 Years Together!

My wife and I recently celebrated our 42nd anniversary. We have done some very special things to celebrate special anniversaries in the past, cruises twice, a weekend in New York City to see Beauty and the Beast on Broadway, to mention a few.

Forty two is not a number we usually associate with a special anniversary, but it seemed special to me, but I had trouble thinking of the appropriate gift. I finally decided on creating a card to tell her how much I appreciate some trait or characteristic of her, one each day for six weeks.

I used the Print Artist software on my computer, and created the card I wanted, and then only changed the wording on each day’s card. I did not tell her of my plan, but on the fifth day of receiving a card, she quietly asked, “How long do you plan to keep this up?” I told her “42 days.” She did not say anything in reply.

On about the tenth day, she said, “You know, I am really looking forward to going to the mailbox each day.” I just smiled.

We are nearing the end of the experiment; I will complete it early next week. But I think this gift will be remembered as long as some of the more exotic measures we have used in our previous celebrations.

(first posted at qassia)