The Value of Repetition

This post is adapted from one I originally wrote over at Winnowing a few years ago. As I’ve begun to practice lectio divina again recently…and since I have a three-year-old at home who loves to hear or see stories over and over and over again…I decided that this piece might be appropriate for today. If you read to the end, you’ll also see a tie-in to my Wednesday post on using sacred music for spiritual growth. 

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In order to meditate on a verse, one reads it slowly, several times, with pauses in between. This is the ancient practice of lectio divina (sacred reading). In order to memorize, one does much the same thing, though sometimes there is less emphasis on really getting at the meat of the meaning, and more on just learning the words. This will ring especially true to anyone who has ever crammed for a test…and then promptly forgotten every fact in the instant of handing the completed exam back to the teacher.

The aborted-babies-as-clinical-waste story mustn’t be ignored, or forgotten

The NHS babies-as-heating-fuel story was so horrific, so impossible sounding, that it almost literally defied belief. We were (and are) understandably tempted to look away, ignore it, or convince ourselves it didn’t happen. Or at least that it somehow certainly couldn’t happen again.

But we can’t: it did happen. It is real. And for it not to happen again demands not only our examination, but our courage and our honesty, as well.

We saw last year with the Kermit Gosnell trial that the press doesn’t like covering stories which make it uncomfortable. So we have to seek out the truth, and we have to remember it, and we have to tell it to others.

And in case of this story we’d better do it quickly. Before it, like its innocent subjects, is tossed away and forgotten:

If #Obamacare’s NOT a laughing matter, why is its spokesman such a clown?

Early in Barack Obama’s presidency, I remember seeing a creepy picture someone had photo-shopped to make him look like the Joker from The Dark Knight, portending sinister things to come. Fast-forward five years. I’m afraid they were giving the president way too much credit.

Rather than appearing as some conniving genius mad for power, Obama looks like a fool frantically trying to keep his whole façade of power from crumbling.

Between Barack and a Hard Place

Our POTUS still doesn’t seem to grasp how image shapes perception, especially in the media. For example, he recently appeared on Zach Galifianakis’ Web comedy show, “Between Two Ferns.”  Galifianakis’ purpose in this show is to get laughs by asking extremely awkward questions and putting his guests in the worst light possible. That’s the joke: everyone gets to look either rude or foolish.

Obama managed to look both.

FLASHBACK: The Non-inevitability of Queen Hillary

**(UPDATE: November 10th, 2016)**

Was I a Trump fan?   Uhhh, …that’d be No.  

Was I vastly happier that Hillary LOST?  Oh, great googily-moogily: Yes, Yes, Yes.  

And based on what I’ve read, it looks like this post ended-up being oddly prescient. Of course, I admit that I didn’t count on the whole damn country in essence ‘flipping the bird’ to the entire Political Establishment on BOTH sides, but then again I’ve never maintained to be Nostradamus Jr.. 

But when ya consider that Hillary lost to the only Republican candidate whom she could have POSSIBLY beaten (and yes, I’m including “Jed!” in there, as well), well, …this was pretty solid.  

Huh. Go figure.

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Whenever I hear breathless talk of Hillary-in-2016 being a foregone conclusion, I have to admit: I chuckle. Loudly. And no, it’s not because I’m naïvely avoiding reality. Quite the opposite, in fact.

No, any fears I could have from the thought of a Clinton 2.0 presidency is assuaged by common sense: she’s not nearly as popular as the progressive intelligentsia would have us believe.

Digging Deeper for Lent, Week 4: Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs

While music is not everyone’s preferred tool for spiritual growth and renewal, nor even for worship, it has its place in centering one’s thoughts on God, and can also be a teaching tool, both for doctrine and Scripture memory.

Since the apostle Paul instructs the early believers to sing “psalms, hymns and spiritual songs” (see Ephesians 5:19 NIV), today I will offer my own recommendations for a bit of each of these three, from a variety of recording artists.

#HobbyLobby’s fight for freedom, and how it’s being misrepresented (again) by the Media

This isn’t supposed to be how freedom works.

It’s not supposed to come down to one decision that’ll allow the Federal Government to remove our God-given rights and turn our lives upside down. Yet back in June of 2012 that’s exactly what happened, when the Affordable Care Act was given the go-ahead by the Supreme Court.

And as tragic as that day was, here we are (again) battling another aspect of the same insatiable, freedom-eviscerating law.

The pro-abortion movement’s wire hanger lie

I just told my wife about this excellent piece by NRO’s Kevin D. Williamson. If you haven’t seen it, please do so now: it is absolutely required reading…

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***Thanks to our pal James over at ‘Defy The Narrative‘ for linking.***

Obama March Madness: Scandals Edition

A nicely done video segment by the folks over at Campus Reform. Consider this post from our buddy Bret as a follow-up to our “With Change like THIS, perhaps there IS Hope“. Have Faith, gang: all is not yet lost…

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***To view video, please go to Bret’s site at the link.***

T.B Rickert's Call

Sometimes you have to just go with the latest viral video. This one is from Campus Reform. Students from George Mason University rank the various scandals from the Obama Administration a la “March Madness” style.

The most telling moment is when one student proclaims; “It’s pretty incredible actually, I didn’t realize how many scandals were going on.”

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