God Help Us

This from a news story I found on imdb.com: ". . . jewelry items such as 'The Passion Nail Pendant' have become fashion statements for fervent Christians."

Maybe wearing a nail around your neck isn't that big a step from wearing a cross. But still. . . .

Maybe it's just the appalling thought that someone in Gibon's marketing department decided making a "The Passion Nail Pendant" was a good idea.

Talk about having no shame. . . .

If You. . . .

via gothic_coop

1. ...owned a restaurant, what kind of food would you serve?
Steakhouse, with great meat, fresh-baked bread, and rich, to-die-for desserts

2. ...owned a small store, what kind of merchandise would you sell?
Used bookstore

3. ...wrote a book, what genre would it be?
I've got a historical fantasy novel 3/4 finished.

4. ...ran a school, what would you teach?
Religious studies & spiritual practices

5. ...recorded an album, what kind of music would be on it?
Show tunes

I Commend To Your Attention. . .

weaverly is an American woman who has gone to Palestine to witness first hand the impact of the Israeli "security fence" on the people and communities there. Her journal - which has only a few entries - starts with her preparations for the trip - emotional as well as material.

She is a woman of relatively few words, but they are vivid.

I found her LJ because I was searching on "mediation" in the interests list. I don't know her personally - but I feel that I'm getting an important insight into what's happening through her eye-witness account.

My Father

I found out Friday night that my father, who is a sharp-minded, physically vigorous 75 year-old, has Parkinson's.

"Incurable but non-fatal," is what I'm told.

My dad has always been a proud and self-reliant person. It's going to be very hard for him to come to terms with having a disease which will steadily erode his ability to control his own limbs and impair his ability to take care of himself.

It could, of course, be a whole lot worse: Alzheimers or cancer, for example.

But this initiates my family into a whole new phase of our lives together.

Friday night was one of those very few times (that I could count on one hand) when I have seen/heard my father start to break down into tears. Mom told me face-to-face over dinner. I called Dad on the phone later. I suspect he wanted Mom to tell my daughter and me because he didn't trust his own self-control yet. But we had a good talk. He told me he needed to be able to talk to me about this as we go forward. I told him I wanted him to be able to talk to me. His own father died of colonic cancer and never said a word to Dad about it beyond the straight facts of his condition. Dad doesn't want it to be that way for us.

I've been waiting for this for about a year. Not because I had any conscious thought that anything was wrong, but I've had a steadily growing awareness of my parents' age. I've *known* that one day I would get a phone call, or be told, "We went to the doctor yesterday and. . . ." So the shoe has finally dropped. But then again, the symptoms have evidently been going on for about a year, so maybe I tapped into something. Or maybe it's just coincidence. I really hadn't expected to have to deal with this so soon: five or six years from now, maybe. But the feeling of "it *will* happen" has been very strong.

I don't know what to do to help him.
I guess I'll find that out as we go along.

For those of you who pray, please remember him during this time of adjustment as he searches for the courage and the faith to face this.

I love my father more than anyone else in the world, except my daughter, and there is no one I hold in higher respect.