As we are in this political scene with the presidential candidates along with the senators, representatives and local candidates all bombarding us with their spin as to why we should vote for them, I just saw this article put out by my church about liberal vs. conservative.  It really expresses my position fairly well.  Enjoy!

One of my projects is to support a mission outreach called FETCH International (I sponsor and manage their webpage).  FETCH is a excellent mission program, helping children and families in India with education and training.  100% of monies donated to FETCH to sponsor students goes directly to those in need.  None is used for administrative needs.  It is rare to find a organization where all money donated goes to help those really in need.  You are welcome to check them out and donate if inspired to do so.

There are many things going on the world right now, the economic crises, wars, food supply, environmental issues, natural disasters.  It seems as though the problems are becoming overwhelming.  They may be.  The Bible has prophecies that suggests that these things will be happening and with greater frequency.  These things are not things that God does, but rather things He allows to happen to show how awful sin is.  All of these calamites are a result of sin.  What is sin, transgression of the Law Of God.  Fortunately, we have a Savior, Jesus, the Son of God and soon we will be saved from this planet if we accept Him and allow Him to fill us with His love.   For more information, check out the picture links on the left side of the page.

Our diets have stalled somewhat, but our weights have stayed about the same for which we are thankful.  We feel so much better. 

We serve and awesome God and thank Him for His love for us.  The world is so full of pain, suffering and deceit.  However, that comes from the evil one, not from God.  The important thing is to remember that!  Regardless of what happens, God loves us.  That could mean bad things happen to us, but it is the devil that is doing it, not God.  Jesus told us this would happen in Matthew 10:34-37.  These words I believe were not meant to instigate a riot, but rather a warning that when you love your neighbor as you would love yourself, some of your neighbors, friends or even family, would not accept that love and would even reject that love with bitter hatred.  This is hard to believe, but we see it all the time.  Misunderstandings, lies, back stabbing, all in a effort to gain advantage.  As Christians, shouldn't we love our enemies regardless?  If that results on our death, isn't that what martyrdom really is?  Blowing up one's self up for a cause is not martyrdom, it is suicide or if it kills others too, it's homicide.  So put aside petty differences, love your family, friends and neighbor.  If they are treating you wrong, go to them and tell them.  If they accept it you have gained a friend. If they reject it, take another friend and tell them.  If they still reject it walk away.  Matthew 18.  Maranatha

In other news, it was somewhat of an exciting day yesterday.  Cam had been considering a TV upgrade to a flat panel and the set he had been looking at, and costing more than he wanted to pay was on sale yesterday at Best Buy.  He went just to look but the sale price was 23% less than the typical price.  He had a gift card to which reduced the price even more.   We plan to donate our old TV to the Beaverton Church Youth room.

The last two weeks Cam has been doing the scheduling job at work.  This job is always a challenge, but it has gone well.  So well, that the boss wanted him to continue for another two weeks. 

After the holidays we are continuing out diet.  As of this morning Cam is at his lowest weight since his lowest high school days, at 181.4lbs.  He hopes to break 180 in the next couple days and start working on the 170's.  Target is 165 which is only 16.4 lbs away.  Jeri is doing well too.  I won't post her weight, but her goal is in site too.  We both feel much better and have more energy just as you would expect.

Also, I figured out how to get my home network working with our new Verizon FIOS Internet.  When we got it the other day, after hooking everything up, we found that our network drives and shared printer would not work.  After some calls to FIOS support and though they really didn't help me, they did suggest the problem was the firewall software on my PC's was the cause.  Click here for information on how I resolved the problem!