I don't know much about Gov Sarah Palin of Alaska yet, but what I do know, I like. I think that was a pretty smart move for the less conservative McCain to bring in a conservative like Palin as a running mate. Maybe now we'll finally be able to start the much needed drilling in Alaska....but I'm not going to talk politics on yetanotherblog.

The reason I bring this up is that Albert Mohler posted an article about the Palin's and their youngest son and I thought you should read it.



(You may have noticed the link to Abort 73 at the top of yetanotherblog....you might take some time to get familiar with who they are and what they do. None of us should be complacent about abortion.)

Yes, folks, the best week of the year has arrived. It's Shark Week on Discover Channel! Set your Tivos, DVRs and VCRs (if you're still back in the 90s). You DO NOT want to miss this spectacular Selachimorpha week.




Those of you who are not familiar with the superior programming that is Shark Week may be wondering why a seemingly normal person like me would be so excited about a week that features shows about one of the scariest predators on earth. You have obviously never had the pleasure of watching Shark Week and your shark knowledge probably includes trivia you've picked up from Jaws and possibly Deep Blue Sea. You see, I was once like you, thinking all sharks were basically the same. That is, blood-thirsty monsters that attack for the pleasure of the attack. Granted, there are some pretty aggressive sharks out there, but if you'd like to know the truth about the hundreds of varieties of this amazing creature....
WATCH SHARK WEEK!



This year's Shark Week began with the MythBuster's Shark Special. The MythBuster's always do a great job. Even now, I've already learned that the myth of using magnets to repel sharks is in fact false, unless the shark you're trying to repel is a 5lb baby shark. In that case, you could probably just push it away.

It seems to me that in the midst of the current presidential race it would do us good to hear from one of our greatest presidents, Ronald Reagan.

In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. From time to time we've been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. Well, if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? All of us together, in and out of government, must bear the burden. The solutions we seek must be equitable, with no one group singled out to pay a higher price. ----Inaugural Address, January 20, 1981

Click Here for an interesting article about the current global warming threat to our individual freedom.

Will you please pray with us for our dear friends, the Weinbergs? I am so thankful for their testimony of trust in our Great God.

How God is Good

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!



See What A Morning
Keith Getty & Stuart Townend

See, what a morning, gloriously bright,
With the dawning of hope in Jerusalem;
Folded the grave-clothes, tomb filled with light,
As the angels announce, "Christ is risen!"
See God's salvation plan,
Wrought in love, borne in pain, paid in sacrifice,
Fulfilled in Christ, the Man,
For He lives: Christ is risen from the dead!

See Mary weeping, "Where is He laid?"
As in sorrow she turns from the empty tomb;
Hears a voice speaking, calling her name;
It's the Master, the Lord raised to life again!
The voice that spans the years,
Speaking life, stirring hope, bringing peace to us,
Will sound till He appears,
For He lives: Christ is risen from the dead!

One with the Father, Ancient of Days,
Through the Spirit who clothes faith with certainty.
Honor and blessing, glory and praise
To the King crowned with pow'r and authority!
And we are raised with Him,
Death is dead, love has won, Christ has conquered;
And we shall reign with Him,
For He lives: Christ is risen from the dead!

Copyright © 2003 Kingsway Thankyou Music

Dr. Mohler posted this short but great article on this all too familiar topic yesterday.

This has been a week of sightings. On Wednesday J and I saw Jay Leno driving one of his old Model T's in Burbank. Then of course, NAMM has been filled with celebrities. The list is pretty long, but the highlights have been Bill Murray (random!), Mark Isham, Slash, Chris Sligh, Vernon Reed, Terry Lawless, Morris Hayes, George Shaw and Herbie Hancock!!

J and I were assigned the job of show paparazzis, I mean photographers for Spectrasonics so we got to get up close to these people. I'm not a TMZ kinda gal, but it was pretty cool to be within 4 feet of guys like Herbie Hancock AND watch him get excited about our new instrument. Check out the pics from the show HERE. (click on "NAMM" and choose a day)

J found a great quote from John Calvin in book four of The Institutes. We were especially encouraged as it relates to church music.

"[The Master] did not will in outward discipline and ceremonies to prescribe in detail what we ought to do (because he foresaw that this depended upon the state of the times, and he did not deem one form suitable for all ages), here we must take refuge in those general rules which he has given, that whatever the necessity of the church will require for order and decorum should be tested against these. Lastly, because he has taught nothing specifically, and because these things are not necessary to salvation, and for the upbuilding of the church ought to be variously accommodated to the customs of each nation and age, it will be fitting (as the advantage of the church will require) to change and abrogate traditional practices and to establish new ones. Indeed, I admit that we ought not to charge into innovation rashly, suddenly, for insufficient cause. But love will best judge what may hurt or edify; and if we let love be our guide, all will be safe."

The widespread existence of fetal homicide laws, when considered next to current abortion law, creates for the U.S. a form of legal schizophrenia that is both tragic and bizarre. It boggles the mind that a culture as "advanced" and "intelligent" as ours could live with such a blatant double standard, a double standard that is enshrined in law. Either unborn children are people before they're born (in which case fetal homicide laws are just and abortion laws are not), or unborn children are not people before they're born (in which case abortion laws are just and fetal homicide laws are not). You can't have it both ways, but we do. It is absolutely absurd. More than anything, this strange legal partnership makes it clear that, for all the arguments that are made about why unborn children should not be given rights of personhood, this isn't the issue at all. The only thing that matters is the will of the mother. If the mother wants the child, it is a person. Those who harm it will be persecuted to the fullest extent of the law. If the mother doesn't want the child, it isn't a person. It can be torn limb from limb with full legal impunity, no questions asked. The child is exactly the same in both scenarios, it is only the affections of the mother which are changed. Do you see the problem with this? Do you see a problem with basing one person's right to life on nothing else but the whims of another? - Abort73.com II. Facts About Abortion 2. Fetal Homicide Laws

Start spreading the word: Abort73 Graphics / Abort73 Shirts

As a woman who has experienced several early miscarriages, I have come face to face with this type of schizophrenic thinking. The death of an unborn child is either a woman's right or a tragic loss depending completely on how the woman feels. When a woman becomes pregnant and decides she'd rather not be, it is a difficult, yet acceptable decision to have an abortion, after all it is her right. When a woman has a miscarriage, it is a horrible tragedy that is difficult to move past.  There is a huge disconnect here and it seems to be based entirely on how the woman feels.

Wow. I'm disgusted that so many women are deceived on this issue, yet I'm reminded that but for the grace of God, there go I. There was nothing in me to keep me from this type of sin, my flesh is just as easily deceived.  Were it not for God choosing me, redeeming me and continually sanctifying me I may have believed the abortion lie too. Praise God for His mercy!

I'm sure you have heard all about the fires here in So. Cal. and I don't have any new information, except that today was the first day the winds started to slow and the smoke has settled in the Valley. It's quite erie - the sky is brown and thick and the sun is orange and dark.

I found these satellite photos online and I think they give a good idea of how widespread and fast growing these fires have been.


LA County Fires 11:35 am LA County Fires 2:50 pm


All So Cal. Fires (Santa Clarita, Lake Arrowhead, Malibu, Orange County, San Diego)
The stream at the bottom right of the photo is actually dust from the deserts in Mexico. That's how strong these Santa Ana winds are!

A BIBLICAL MANDATE

Start spreading the word: Abort73 Graphics / Abort73 Shirts

I don't often post like this. My blog is intended to be a site you can visit to add a little humor to your day and maybe check in on what's happening in the Martin house. I prefer to entertain than editorialize because there are so many other blogs out there that editorialize so much better than I. However, I'm going to detour from the main road a bit today and write some thoughts on the Separation of Church and State. (You can let me know in the comments if I'm better off keeping my thoughts out of the blogosphere )


Anytime a big election is approaching there is alot of talk among the candidates about religion. There is alot of talk about religion in regards to public schools, courthouses & monuments. The theme in the talk seems to be separation of church and state. The goal seems to be eliminating, or at least compartmentalizing, religion, scratch that, Christianity from all things public.

I have heard the following question asked of several candidates, "What part will religion play in the decisions you make?" Most of the time the answer is something like how his religion is very important to him personally, but is a political non-issue apart from helping the needy and feeding the hungry.

It seems that any individual is welcome to be religious and even Christian as long as that religion does not creep out of his private life and into his public. I have two problems with this:

1. My faith is not a part of me, it is ALL of me. I don't wear faith as an accessory to certain outfits. It permeates my mind and my soul. It forms my worldview, values and my lifestyle - it is who I am. A faith that can be separated from oneself in particular circumstances is not true faith, it is merely a convenient value system that inevitably paves the road for hypocrisy.

2. Constitutional separation of church and state was never meant to eliminate religion from public life. It was meant to preserve the progress made by the Covenanters in Scotland and the Reformers in Europe. The power over the church should not be in the hands of the government and the power over the government should not rest in the hands of the church. Separation of church and state exists for the same reason as the balance of power between the Judicial, Legislative and Executive branches. It exists because of rulers like Bloody Mary who held supreme power over the government and the church. The separation protects the church from corrupt politicians and the government from corrupt clergy. It ensures that the Bible, not the Constitution, has ultimate authority over the church.

I don't normally post like this, but recently I have heard too many Christians repeating the talking points of the global warming religion under the guise of stewardship. I'm all for good stewardship and decreasing waste. I'm not for worshiping the environment. As a side note, it seems obvious to me that the threat of global warming is already motivating a push for increased taxes and eventually increased governmental power over our daily lives (regulating what type of cars we drive or what type of lightbulbs we use, for example). The following quotes are glimpses into the dangers of environmentalism.

"Christians do bear a responsibility to be good stewards of the earth. This is not an easy responsibility to bear in the confusing context of modern ecological debates. But the church of Jesus Christ bears the responsibility to be the steward of the Gospel above all other concerns. The temptation to turn to this-worldly concerns at the expense of spiritual concerns is very strong. Beyond this, human beings will worship either the Creator or the creation. When the authority of the Bible is undermined and confidence that we can know the Creator is compromised, the creation itself looms larger and larger as a central passion." - Albert Mohler

"If you don't believe in God, you have no meaning in your life, and you will thus search for meaning, and you will find it anywhere.  Most people, even atheists, want religion of some kind in their life.  Hello, global warming, as a substitute -- apparently unrecognized and not even organized -- religion.  Yet it is.  So you can set the stage for more people, if the atheists were to ever get their way, of establishing global warming as an unofficial religion that does force people to behave in religious ways just to a false god: the earth, a tangible god.  By the way, there's another thing, another character that all major religions require, and the same thing can be said of manmade global warming, and that characteristic that both require is "faith."  Because, when you get down to it, nobody can prove their religion is true.  That's why there is faith, and that's why faithful people frighten those who have no faith, because faithful people realize there's something larger than themselves.  The global warming people essentially are atheists. You cannot believe in the God of Creation and believe manmade global warming.  You just can't.  You might run around and say, "I don't want to destroy God's creation."  God's laughing at you.  You can't!  He could, but you can't.  You can't create it; you can't destroy it.  You might be changing it. We adapt to it. We have to adapt to it. Every living thing has to adapt to nature in order to thrive." -Rush Limbaugh