Brain Teaser*

I have one, you have one.
If you remove the first letter, a bit remains.
If you remove the second, bit still remains.
After much trying, you might be able to remove the third one also, but it remains.
It dies hard!

Did you figure it out?
The answer is listed in comments section, but don't peek.

*from www.braingle.com

Abingdon, VA

This past weekend Greg and I had the opportunity to visit his grandparents in Abingdon, VA. It was wonderful to drive through the mountains of Virginia while the leaves are turning. I LOVE fall with the cooler weather and the beautiful colors blazing from the trees.

Abingdon is such a cute historical town with tons of antique shops and Bed & Breakfasts. It's also home of the Barter Theater, the state theater of Virginia. We went to see "Driving Miss Daisy" there on Saturday evening. It was a great show and the theater itself is positively gorgeous.

After church on Sunday in Bristol, VA, the Greg's grandparents took us to see Bristol Speedway in Bristol, TN. I had such a great time getting to know them a little better and exploring the area. The Pictures below are from Bristol Speedway.

Greg with his Grandparents

And every man's dream, squashing Dale Earnhardt, Jr. at Bristol...

It was so great to spend some time exploring the area with the Presleys. I really can't wait to go back sometime and explore a few more of the little shops and historic sites.

Gettysburg Address

I don't know why this speech is on my mind, but it is and so I thought that I'd share. Maybe it's having to memorize it in fifth grade, or maybe it's that modern rhetoric comes no where near as eloquent and honest as this. Maybe a big part of it is that we as a nation are currently entering a new type of civil war through backbiting political rhetoric replacing physical altercations.

I love that unlike most high media profile candidates today, Lincoln said what he meant and what he was doing as opposed to explaining what he wouldn't do. He stated simply the way things were instead of manipulating various constituencies against each other or other candidates as opposed to rallying them around a cause one believes in. Frankly, Lincoln was man comfortable in his own skin as opposed to changing daily his beliefs and promises to better fit the crowd surrounding him.

Anyway, I love this speech, so without further ado: Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Sin rant

So, after a rousing debate over the legitimacy of 'fundamentalist Christians' using sin as a 'guilt inducing motivator for brainwashing,' I just needed to rant about some key facts of faith and life.

It is free-will which led to the first sin and consequently death entering the realm of human existence. Therefore, sin came out of choice and continues to remain a choice in the sense the each and every individual must choose to remain in it and living as they always have or to choose Christ's gift of redemption and forgiveness. The latter choice encouraging change and growth as the individual continues to choose how they will act each and every day.

Now for those who argue that sin is a guilt trip inspiring word developed by religious zealots to regulate the morality of everyone around them rather than a world altering phenomena; I defy you to look into the face of a badly beaten and abused child or that of a rape victim or murder victim's family and tell them that sin, moral/ethical depravity, does not exist. Continuing in this vain, sin exists and leads to pain, suffering, and persecution for both believers and non-believers of God.

It might be argued that if God is as powerful as we claim could not He stop all of it. I believe that yes, He could; but while God is loving and merciful, He is also patient and just. This means that He does not give us free will only to take it away if He thinks we are making a mistake. Rather, He gives us free will and allows us to follow it to its conclusion even when those conclusions sadden him. Frankly, God is our father and creator and we are created in his image. It follows that if our earthly fathers teach us, love us, and provide us guidance, but ultimately must allow us to make our own decisions; then why wouldn't God be able and allowed to do the same in the limits of our intellect?

* For continue thoughts please see previous entry (http://kendit.blogspot.com/2006/12/lyrics-to-life-hell-mountains-and.html)

Grammar Quiz

You Scored an A

You got 10/10 questions correct. It's pretty obvious that you don't make basic grammatical errors. If anything, you're annoyed when people make simple mistakes on their blogs. As far as people with bad grammar go, you know they're only human. And it's humanity and its current condition that truly disturb you sometimes.

The It's Its There Their They're Quiz

How did you do?

Candidly Kendi *

Today's Question: "Love is not a feeling, am I correct?! I've been having this ongoing, periphery conversation and I said in an email last night that love is not a feeling. And [my friend] completely said the opposite. Am I crazy?"

Wow...well, you can argue the love thing both ways. What the world traditionally thinks of as love is most definitely a feeling and frankly that feeling is a part of love. However, more importantly love is an active choice. People choose to have that feeling for whatever reason (familial connection, attraction, desperation, lust, etc.) even if it is sometimes a seemly subconscious choice.

True love also require action. After all, "Love is patient, Love is kind. it does not envy. It does not boast. It is not proud. It is not rude. It is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered and keeps not record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always perseveres." (I Corinthians 13) No where in that passage does it say that love will always give you the warm fuzzies. As for the argument, we can point out that love ALWAYS protects, trusts, and perseveres. It doesn't say that love only does these things when standing next to one another. I mean, if that were the case, astronauts would stopping loving their families as soon as they left the atmosphere and that seems a little ludacris.

Hartley Coleridge has a sonnet made famous in that a film version of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility that might give you a literary/philosphical support outside of Biblical text.

Sonnet VII
Is love a fancy or a feeling? No.
It is as immortal as immaculate Truth.
'Tis not a blossom shed as soon as youth
Drops from the stem of life--for it will grow
in the barren regions, when no waters flow,
nor rays of promise cheats the pensive gloom.
A darkling fire, faint hovering o'er a tomb,
That but itself and darkness nought doth show,
It is my love's being yet it cannot die,
Nor will it change, though all be changed beside;
Though fairest beauty be no longer fair,
Though vows be false, and faith itself deny,
Though sharp enjoyment be a suicide,
And hope a spectre in a ruin bare.

My favorite line is "nor will it change, though all be changed beside," and isn't that what we are talking about essentially. First, he says nor WILL is change as opposed to nor CAN it change. Seemingly small words, but a huge distinction between choice and ability to change. As God gave us free will that most definitely applies to our strongest emotions. We choose to love emotionally and actively. The last part of the line, simply points out that change of pace, atmosphere, place, and/or time does not affect true love as it will not bow to such changes thus remaining a constant in need of growth and further action.

If simply looking for the emotion, one can find it and will be burned up by it. But to find someone who lives love, whose heart is illustrated everyday in a million ways, not only in romance but also in everyday action, is a true blessing. Praying for someone, calling a friend just to chat, listening, making dinner for someone, getting up everyday to see the same faces and still saying good morning, taking out the trash, giving a hug, remembering a birthday/anniversary, giving gifts, squeezing someone's hand or offering an arm in a crowded place, writing a note, still making breakfast for someone without grumbling for 10 years, allowing someone their personal space, helping someone pack, encouraging, being truth when honesty is not easy, carrying someone's stuff when they've had a long day, opening a door, taking time to bake the person's favorite even if it may not be yours, compromising so that the other person is better cared for. These are just a few expressions of real love. While the emotion is a part, it is the long term action which truly defines it. After all, people may remember Romeo and Juliet for the tragedy of their affair, but in the end, it is really the tragedy they are remembering not their love which didn't not face the long term testing by fire to determine it's fullness.


*In middle school I decided to take on an advice column in the school paper and called it Candidly Kendi. I loved it. Writing the above modified email reminded me of doing that, so I entered it as such.