43 years ago today....

Martin Luther King, Jr was assassinated for his beliefs and leadership. He was 39 years old.

During his all too brief lifetime, sources say he travelled over 6 million miles and spoke to crowds and congregations over 2,500 times. He worked to fight injustice and discrimination wherever it occurred. He conferred with then President J.F. Kennedy and campaigned for President L. B. Johnson. He was arrested almost 20 times and was physically assaulted at least four times.

At 35 years old, he became the youngest man to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. As one might expect, he donated the prize money of over $54,000.00 to the furtherance of civil rights for all peoples.

In the years since his passing, many have dreamed of what he might have accomplished had he lived. I think we should celebrate what he did...giving voice to those who are oppressed while teaching us to love one another.

Gardens

I love gardening...I'm not so great with flowers...given the location of my flower beds it's best if I use zinnias or marigolds or sunflowers. My vegetable garden is another story...there's something about working with the dirt that is therapeutic...the smell, the feel, the warmth. I've always said I love my garden because the dirt and plants don't talk back! Ah, but they do produce yummy food! From the very first onions, lettuce and cabbage until the greens and pumpkins at the end of the season, it is my summer love.

Now all I need is a scarecrow like this....

Stations of the Cross...

Michael

I love the movie "Michael" starring John Travolta as the Archangel Michael...I also love the fact that Hollywood didn't try too hard to make a statement. Whatever your thoughts on angels and demons and the spiritual realm, you have to love an angel who loves to eat sugar, see obscure sights and dances.

Heart of God

Jesus spoke a parable to some people who prided themselves on being virtuous and despised everyone else..." (Luke 18)

It is so important for us to really try to understand the heart of God. God does not condemn, does not judge, does not criticize. Some of those images exist in scripture, but they are images that speak more about the limitations of our expression than about the heart of God. From some of those readings and from some of our teachers we have come to think that God only loves those who are strong and good and not those who make poor choices. The truth is that God is only love and, 'God makes the rain to fall on the wicked as well as on the righteous'.
Henri Nouwen

Just a note...

When I started this blog in 2008 I had in mind to write mainly for the youth in our church. I am the Youth Director and meet with them a couple of times a week but there's never enough time to talk about everything. That, plus the fact I was continually running across information I wanted to share on days that we didn't meet.

So Sparta FUMC Youth was up and running with a listing in our church newsletter and bulletin. It wasn't long before I was pleasantly surprised to find that some of the adults in the congregation were interested and reading too.

I paid little attention (actually none) to the fact that there were a few people in the blog universe reading until I began to get the occasional comment. I must admit I was happy to know that I had something to say that interested people I didn't even know. In the last few months I have started to watch a little closer and WOW...we've had visitors from over 20 countries!

I will continue to write knowing that in the grand scheme of things, I have a very small little blog but would like to thank each and every one of your for your visit. I pray that the words you have found here are what you needed to hear at the time or maybe just lifted your spirits...whatever your reason for checking us out...Thank you!

Just a few April Fools...

Alabama Changes the Value of Pi
1998: The April 1998 issue of the New Mexicans for Science and Reason newsletter contained an article claiming that the Alabama state legislature had voted to change the value of the mathematical constant pi from 3.14159 to the 'Biblical value' of 3.0. Soon the article made its way onto the internet, and then it rapidly spread around the world, forwarded by email. It only became apparent how far the article had spread when the Alabama legislature began receiving hundreds of calls from people protesting the legislation. The original article, which was intended as a parody of legislative attempts to circumscribe the teaching of evolution, was written by physicist Mark Boslough.




Flying Penguins
2008: The BBC announced that camera crews filming near the Antarctic for its natural history series Miracles of Evolution had captured footage of Adélie penguins taking to the air. It even offered a video clip of these flying penguins, which became one of the most viewed videos on the internet. Presenter Terry Jones explained that, instead of huddling together to endure the Antarctic winter, these penguins took to the air and flew thousands of miles to the rainforests of South America where they "spend the winter basking in the tropical sun." A follow-up video explained how the BBC created the special effects of the flying penguins.



Metric Time
1975: Australia's This Day Tonight news program revealed that the country would soon be converting to "metric time." Under the new system there would be 100 seconds to the minute, 100 minutes to the hour, and 20-hour days. Furthermore, seconds would become millidays, minutes become centidays, and hours become decidays. The report included an interview with Deputy Premier Des Corcoran who praised the new time system. The Adelaide townhall was even shown sporting a new 10-hour metric clock face. The thumbnail (found at TelevisionAU.com) shows TDT Adelaide reporter Nigel Starck posing with a smaller metric clock. TDT received numerous calls from viewers who fell for the hoax. One frustrated viewer wanted to know how he could convert his newly purchased digital clock to metric time.


The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest
spaghetti harvest1957: The respected BBC news show Panorama announced that thanks to a very mild winter and the virtual elimination of the dreaded spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti crop. It accompanied this announcement with footage of Swiss peasants pulling strands of spaghetti down from trees. Huge numbers of viewers were taken in. Many called the BBC wanting to know how they could grow their own spaghetti tree. To this the BBC diplomatically replied, "place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best."