My Top 5 takeaways from "Avengers: Age of Ultron"

While I would never be considered a full-blown fan boy, I am a fan of comic book superheroes, having been a casual reader of Spider-Man, Batman, The Avengers, Justice League and various other titles as a young fella.

The recent run of comic book heroes to hit the big and small screens has rekindled my childhood enthusiasm for the genre. I've especially enjoyed Christopher Nolan's take on Batman, Bryan Singer's approach with the X-Men and Joss Whedon's assembling of the Avengers.

See what I did there with the Avengers? Assembling. Okay. Sorry.

My family went to see "Avengers: Age of Ultron" the weekend that it opened and we thoroughly enjoyed it. More than enough action and adventure to keep us on the edge of our chairs and some compelling dramatic scenes that my wife and I appreciated.

So here's the list of my Top 5 thoughts inspired by "Avengers: Age of Ultron."

• Good grief! James Spader really is Ultron! #spooky
• No matter how noble his intentions, Tony Stark will always be driven by his massive ego.
• If Captain America is the heart of the Avengers, then Hawkeye is the soul of the team.
• Black Widow is, without question, the coolest Avenger.
• Hawkeye is a husband AND daddy?!?!?! Explains why he's the soul of the Avengers. 

Stupid Walmart Moment No. 7542 -- The Legend of Nanna Ellie from Cheshire

I was the third customer in the 20 items or less lane this evening at Walmart.

No big deal. The sharply dressed gentleman in front of me had nine items in his basket. In and out quick. Yesss!

Not so for the first customer in line.

We'll call her Nanna Ellie from Cheshire to protect her identity. Not that I know her, but I just like using that reference.

Anyway, Nanna Ellie from Cheshire brought just a few more than 20 items to the 20 items or less lane. Nanna Ellie had 37 (!) items to ring up. And those were the items I could see to count! She already had three bags in her buggy.

On top of that, Nanna Ellie from Cheshire had coupons. I quit counting those bad boys at 14. 

Irritated was I with my three frozen pizzas, box of bandaids, Neosporin, dish detergent, 8-pack of Irish Spring and 2-pack of Degree deodorant.

Even if you count the Irish Spring and Degree separately, my item count was 16, well within the legal lane limit.

Now Nanna Ellie from Cheshire seemed like a nice lady and the cashier was a saint. She handled Nanna Ellie with grace and a sweet spirit.

I could tell the gentleman in front of me was irritated, but he handled it well, too, taking the time to make a phone call to distract himself.

Yes, I eavesdropped on his coversation, but that's another story for another day. The lady he was talking with spoke very loudly.

Me? I started counting every item that Walmart stashes at the check out line to entice your kids.

I'm a counter.

It's what I do.

What?

In fact, I counted all that stuff three times before Nanna Ellie from Cheshire finished checking out.

I can't be overly irritated with Nanna Ellie, though.

After all, if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't know that there are 24 different kinds of snacks in the 20 items or less lane.

No I didn't buy any of them.

College Football Chaos!

It's 1:17 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 5. 

Do you know where your favorite Associated Press Top 25 college football teams are? 

For fans of No. 2 Oregon, No. 3 Alabama, No. 4 Oklahoma, No. 6 Texas A&M, No. 14 Stanford, No. 15 LSU, No. 16 USC, No. 17 Wisconsin, No. 18 BYU and No. 19 Nebraska ... well, your boys are probably somewhere licking their wounds. 

Yep. That's right. All ten of those teams lost this weekend. 

Oh, as I'm writing this, No. 8 UCLA is trailing unranked Utah 24-21 in the Rose Bowl. That outcome might be settled by the time I'm done with what will amount to a coroner's report on the AP Top 25. 

My Saturday of college football started as it always does, off and on watching of College Game Day on ESPN. Game Day was more amusing than usual this week since they dragged in pop singer Katy Perry as the guest picker. I'm not a Katy Perry fan, but she was pretty funny and she picked No. 11 Ole Miss to beat Alabama, one-upping all the professional prognosticators on the show. 

Heaving corn dogs at the cameras to end the show was a nice touch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyWuFG0iCQU

To appease My Smokin' Hot Wife, we settled in and watched No. 20 Ohio State "welcome" Maryland to the Big 10. Even if you are a Buckeyes fan, that was a wasted three hours. Don't tell my wife I said that. 

While we were immersed in the Buckeyes-Terps titanic struggle, epic carnage was unfolding in Starkville, Miss., where No. 12 Mi'sippi State was administering a 48-31 beat down to No. 6 Texas A&M. That opened the floodgates for four more Top 25 upsets on the day. 

Here's the rest of the upset rundown from Saturday: 

• (11) Ole Miss 23, (3) Alabama 17 
• (25) TCU 37, (4) Oklahoma 33 
• Arizona St. 38, (16) USC 34 
• Northwestern 20, (17) Wisconsin 14 

NOTE: No. 8 UCLA leads Utah 28-27 with 2:47 to play in the fourth quarter. Utes ball at the UCLA 33. 

You could just feel that this weekend was going to be a wild one after Rich Rodriguez's Arizona Wildcats upended No. 2 Oregon IN EUGENE on Thursday night. I even turned off that game late thinking, "Ah, the Ducks are gonna pull it out." Next thing I know it's Friday morning and the top sports story is about how Rich's RodCats skewered said Ducks. 

Do what!?!?!?! Uh oh. Look out, Top 25! 

UPDATE: Utah is getting ready to try a 22-yard, potentially game-winning field goal with :37 left in the game. 

It's an historic weekend in college football. I've been watching the sport for a good forty years and never have I witnessed what happened on Saturday. Five of the AP's Top 10 teams fall on the same weekend. Never happened before. It was fantastic! 

UPDATE to the UPDATE: Field goal good. Utah leads 30-28 with :34 left. 

Who would've thunk that the state of Mi'sippi would be the new capital of college football (at least for this week)? Surely the Rebels and Bulldogs are Top 5 bound after their wins. 

And has the balance of power shifted in the SEC, moving from the state of Alabama to their Gulf Coast neighbor? 

"Whoa! Whoa! Easy there, bubby!" yells Auburn coach Gus Malzahn, fresh from hanging toilet paper at Toomer's Corner. 

Okay, Gus, I'll give it to you. No. 5 War Eagle just might be the best team in the land after a 41-7 hijacking of No. 15 LSU. We'll find out, fella. 

Then there's the Pac 12 and Big 12. I'm not a believer in either conference. And their top teams did nothing to bolster any smidgen of faith I may have had in them. 

FINAL UPDATE: Utah upsets No. 8 UCLA 30-28 in LA. That's Los Angeles, not Lower Alabama. Actually, the game was played in Pasadena, but that didn't fit my joke. 

So long, smidgen of faith in the Pac 12/Big 12. It's conceivable that neither of those conferences will have a participant in the inaugural final four of college football come the new year. Ugly stuff, kids. 

With UCLA's loss -- add one, carry the two, take off my shoe -- make that eleven of the AP's Top 25 teams that went down to defeat this weekend. That's probably a record, too. 

How many more of these Pandora's box weekends will we see in college football this season? How many more times will the Top 25 pundits have to play 52 pick-up with the rankings? 

If the sportswriters have their way, many more. 

Chaos sells. 

God in the voice of a 9-year old boy

What does the voice of God sound like? Have you ever wondered about that? I have.

Ezekiel 43:2 (NKJV) offers one description, reading in part, "His voice was like the sound of many waters;"

Many waters. 

Is that like the mighty roar of a waterfall, galloping over the precipice and colliding head-on with the riverbed below? 

Or maybe it's like one of my favorite sounds, the soothing rush of a heavy rain that lulls me to sleep on a lazy afternoon.

We're still settling into our new digs here in Marion, Ohio, and looking for a new church to join is one of the top priorities we hold dear as a family.

Moving to Marion is one of those unexpected things that comes up in life. But that's another story for another day.

Last Sunday, we visited Berean Baptist Church. Its pastor and his wife are alumni of Tennessee Temple University, where My Smokin' Hot Wife and I went to college, so we wanted to visit and meet some fellow TTU folks.

We enjoyed the service. The congregation is friendly and Pastor Chris Peria and his wife Sonya welcomed us heartily. It was a great experience.

After the service, we enjoyed lunch at their house with their three children, two friendly dogs and a pair of pudgy guinea pigs. The fellowship was great. The kids were great. The dogs were great. The guinea pigs were ... pudgy.

Our son Joel and their daughter Emma hit it off right away. Joel is usually the life of the party wherever we go and I have the distinct feeling Emma is cut from the same cloth.

Fast forward to Friday. Joel and I were headed to pick up Mommy/My Smokin' Hot Wife for lunch when he asked me a question.

Here's how that conversation unfolded.

Joel: Daddy, are we going to church this Sunday?

I love to hear to hear my son call me Daddy. It's a warm fuzzy thing. I also love the fact that he enjoys going to church. More than anything else, I love the fact that Joel has trusted Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord.

Me: Yeah, baby. We're planning on it.

Joel: What church are we going to?

Me: I don't know, buddy. Mommy and I will talk about it.

Joel: I want to go back to that church where we went last time. I really liked it.

Me: So you want to go back even though there weren't a lot of kids there?

Berean is a small church. Pastor Chris and his family have been ministering there for a little over a year. After chatting with him last Sunday, I have the sense that there's a neat move of God afoot there.

Joel: Yes. I want to go back there. I really liked it.

Me: What did you like about it?

Joel: I really liked the teacher.

A college-age young lady taught the kids during children's church. Apparently, she made an impression on Joel. He even remembered the content of the lesson when we asked him about it after the service was over!

Joel: That's the church I think we should go to, Daddy.

He was very insistent about it.

Even before we moved to Marion in late July, we had been praying that God would lead us to a good church in the area. Our family and many of our friends joined us in this prayer effort.

I am always amazed at how God answers prayer. I have my own idea of how I would like for my prayers to be answered, and it's always wrong. That's not a bad thing, necessarily, because God is always teaching me and adjusting my thoughts and my view of Him.

God did that again on Friday after my chat with Joel.

I have often wondered what the voice of God sounds like. On Friday, it sounded like the voice of a 9-year old boy.

Thank you, Lord, for speaking to me through this beautiful little boy You have given to us nurture and train up according to Your word. Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!

Life

Change

Transition

Trust

Pray

Obey

Adapt

Succeed

Life

Proverbs 3:5-7 (NIV)

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.

Loss

"Naked I came from my mother's womb, 

And naked I shall return there.

The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away;

Blessed be the name of the LORD."

-- Job 1:21

At various times in my life, my family and I have suffered loss: death of loved ones, loss of employment, financial setbacks. But we've never experienced the level of loss that Job did during the period of his life documented in scripture.

Loss in any form is painful for us as human beings to deal with and understand; especially when the loss is caused by the unjust actions of others.

Job lost his whole family and all of his wealth in a single day. How devastating!

He could have easily surrendered to his base nature and blamed God for taking away all those he loved and everything he possessed, but, instead, Job recognized a great truth. He entered the world with nothing and would leave the world with nothing, and along the way all that he enjoyed was given to him by God.

And Job praised God for that.

Do I have that kind of faith? I know I desperately need it right now.

"The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away;

Blessed be the name of the LORD."

Life in the third grade

Well, it's official: A third grader lives in our house.

Today, our son Joel embarked on a new adventure commonly known as third grade. And after a summer's worth of groaning and wishing he could go back to second grade, I'd say "Third Grade: Day 1" was a rousing success.

Confidence was not at an all-time high heading into the annual Meet the Teacher Night on Monday of this week. Joel wasn't at all thrilled about leaving second grade behind. He really loved his teacher, Mrs. Wilson, and told me on the final day of school in the spring that he didn't want to be a third grader. Despite my best effort at assuring him that third grade would be just fine, he would hear none of it.

And so began our summer.

Any mention of school by My Smokin' Hot Wife or me brought about the same response: "I don't wanna go to third grade. I wanna stay in second grade. I miss Mrs. Wilson."

And so it continued; until today.

As usual, he awoke early (like 4:45 a.m. early) to give me a hug and see me off to work. I squeezed him, kissed his head and told him school would be fun and that I'd pick him up afterward. He was all smiles in the annual "first day of the new school year" photo that My Smokin' Hot Wife took of him this morning and was still bouncy and upbeat when I collected him at parent pickup this afternoon after school dismissed.

"I like third grade, Daddy!" he proclaimed as he climbed into Ye Olde DadMobile. He then rattled off a list of all the positives about third grade that he had gleaned from his first day, including a glowing recommendation of his new teacher, Ms. Riggle. Best of all, he told me, "there's no home work in third grade!"

Of course, I disputed this claim, but he assured me that Ms. Riggle told the class that there would be no home work in third grade.

"No home work this week, probably," I said to him.

"No home work EVER," replied Joel the Confident.

Okay. A bridge to be crossed later. I don't want to kill the mood today.

So we're off to a good start with "Third Grade: Day 1" in the books.

A win's a win, right?

Yep. We'll take it.

Thank you, Lord, for the blessing of a happy boy.

#Hashtags on Facebook

So I host this morning radio show at WHIZ-FM in Zanesville, Ohio, and I maintain a Facebook page and Twitter account for the program, which is called Z92 Morning Rush (shameless plug, yes). The social media accounts help me to build an audience and stay in contact with regular listeners. The usual stuff.

Now I'm not the most tech savvy dude you'll ever meet. I'm not totally lost in the techniverse, but it's not exactly home sweet home, either. Anyway, today on the show - which I affectionately refer to as El Grande Show - one of my minions, Sara the Moderator, informed me that Facebook is now using hashtags (#), a la Twitter.

This was news to me, so I Googled "Facebook hashtags" and found an article by Christopher Null on PC World's interwebs site about the topic. According to a study by Simply Measured, the Facebook hashtags, which made their debut on the site in June, aren't "driving additional engagement" by users.

Mr. Null said there are multiple issues with Facebook's hashtags that could be preventing the desired "additional engagement." First, the hashtags are clickable in an initial post, but don't work all the time in ensuing comments. Second, the hashtags on Facebook aren't readily visible like they are on Twitter. Third, when you click on a Facebook hashtag, you get a pop-up page that loads at a snail's pace.

It seems like the Facebook hashtags are rather useless then, doesn't it? Why even bother with them, right? I certainly won't be using them on my future Facebook posts, will I?

Wrong. In good lemming fashion, I hashtagged (did I just make up a word?) three items in my very next post about a local band that we had on the show today. I felt cool and trendy for about a minute or so.

But I'll probably keep using the Facebook hashtags just because they turn blue and you can click on them.

Hey, squirrel!!!!

#Sigh.

Timely work from Erick Erickson

RedState's Erick Erickson offers some timely and wise advice in this excellent opinion piece.


http://www.redstate.com/2013/07/15/an-ecumenical-hope-post-zimmerman-trial/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Great piece by Thomas Sowell

If you've never read anything written by Thomas Sowell, you should start by reading this piece.
He is one of the most brilliant and thoughtful minds in America today.


http://www.nationalreview.com/article/352892/who-racist-thomas-sowell

Teacher Appreciation Day

Many people have influenced my life, some for good, others, not so much. But I have learned a great deal even from those in the "not so much" category. That's another story for another day, though.

Background for this blog post: I host a radio show on WHIZ-FM in Zanesville, Ohio, and in honor of Teacher Appreciation Day, this morning I shared some memories of four teachers who had profoundly influenced me throughout my school days. And my school daze, too.

First, there was Mrs. Shepherd, my fourth grade teacher. Now while I was a student at Seffner Elementary School in Seffner, Fla., I thought Mrs. Shepherd was quite possibly the meanest teacher that existed in this realm, or any other realm for that matter. And she was very stern; an old fashioned, no nonsense "school marm", if you please.

On one occasion, after I had sprinted down the sidewalk after school dismissed for the day, she caught me and as punishment made me write "I will walk on the walk" one hundred times. Needless to say, from that day forward, I always checked to make sure Mrs. Shepherd wasn't looking before I ran down the sidewalk.

Side note not necessarily relevant to the theme of this piece: My Mom was extremely irritated, not because I got into trouble or had to write "I will walk on the walk" one hundred times, but because Mrs. Shepherd referred to the sidewalk as the "walk". That just bugged the hooey out of Mom for some reason.

Anyway, one thing Mrs. Shepherd did in class that has stuck with me my entire life is that she prayed with the class each morning after announcements and before lunch. That testimony has always remained at the forefront of my hazy memory of fourth grade at Seffner Elementary.

My high school English teacher Daryl Safreed played a major role in my life over the relatively short time that we enjoyed together as teacher and student. Mr. Safreed taught me the value of writing and writing well, which helped me immensely in college and has played a key role in my professional life.

Had I not developed writing skills at the feet of Mr. Safreed, I would have never been able to work in broadcast or print journalism. He was also a good friend to me at a time when I was struggling in that no man's land between childhood and adulthood.

In my college years, Dr. Fred Afman and Marvin Easley each made crucial contributions to who I am today.

Dr. Afman was a Bible teacher at Tennessee Temple University for what seemed like ages. He was a giant of a man with a canyon-deep voice and a classic grandfatherly appearance.

The bow tie was his signature fashion item. At times, he wore an electric blue blazer around campus.

Imagine a 6-foot-8 inch tall granddad in an electric blue jacket with a bow tie teaching Old Testament Survey at 8 o'clock in the morning.

Yeah.

Beyond his unique look, Dr. Afman was a marvelous teacher of Scripture. His grasp of the Bible from both a spiritual and an intellectual standpoint was nothing short of amazing. I was captivated when he drew maps of the Holy Land on the chalk board from memory, listing all the key locations that we were studying. I always grabbed my Bible and checked the maps in the back to see if his drawings were accurate. They always were. I loved sitting under his teaching.

Near the end of a particularly horrible semester for me, Dr. Afman offered encouragement that helped me to get back on track. The fact that he noticed that I was struggling in my personal life, apart from the awful grades I was making in his class, spoke volumes to me about the man. He was so much more than just a professor of the Bible; he was a man of God who cared deeply about the well being of his students.

And then there was Marvin Easley. Marv was one of my broadcasting professors at TTU. He was a great guy.

He gained the moniker of "Easy Easley" from some students who took his classes because he wasn't necessarily the toughest prof at school. If you had class with Marv after the cafeteria was open, you were likely going to spend that time in one of his famous "luncheon seminars". But those who took his classes to grab an easy grade missed the whole point of the time they spent under his teaching.

Marv was a true professional broadcaster; a master of his craft. For years he was the voice of Honda dealerships throughout the southeastern United States. If you heard a Honda ad on radio or saw one on television, the smooth, cello-like voice telling you where to pick up your next ride was Marv's.

He encouraged me to stick with the broadcasting program at a time when I was considering changing majors. Part of his encouragement included taking my friend Dan Kennard and me with him during some of his voiceover work for Honda. It was amazing to watch him whip through that voice work, most of the time in one take.

When I worked as a substitute teacher for Zanesville City Schools during the 2011-12 academic year, I found myself utilizing some of Marv's style in dealing with students. He's shown up when I've taught Sunday school at church, too. And there's a lot of Marv in my writing style and on-air delivery. If imitation is the highest form of flattery, then I hope that I have made Marv proud.

So, thank you, Mrs. Shepherd, Mr. Safreed, Dr. Afman and Marv. Thanks for being tough, caring, compassionate and great role models for me. Thanks for being good teachers.

Tip of the terrorist iceberg?

After a week of watching the federal, state, and local authorities chase down and subdue the Brothers Tsnaraev -- accused of executing the cowardly and heinous bombing at the Boston Marathon -- we have opened a new week with another alleged terrorist plot, this time north of the border in Canada.

Fortunately, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) thwarted the scheme to attack a passenger train that runs between Toronto and the U.S. The RCMP's joint investigation with the FBI and the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security turned up evidence that the two men accused in the plot were working under the "direction and guidance" of "al-Qaida elements" based in Iran.

Back stateside, U.S. authorities are still working to determine if the Brothers Tsnarnaev planned and pulled off the Boston bombing on their own or if there was some puppet master out there pulling the strings. Some politicians and pundits are tiptoeing around or all together ignoring the "Islamic extremist" term in relation to the Brothers Tsnarnaev. Others of similar ilk are calling for everything from "beefing up" immigration standards to wire tapping mosques and other houses of worship that belong to groups whose religious views could be deemed as "extreme".

Amid the speculation, arguments, and the politicians and pundits falling all over themselves at the sight of cameras and microphones, I have one question. Is this the tip of the terrorist iceberg in North America?

It's a question to which I have no concrete answer, only a gut feeling that it could be "yes". That gut feeling is based on a post-9/11 interview. The name and affiliation of the individual being interviewed at the time escapes me, but I remember clearly what he said in regards to the rise of al-Qaida and similar terrorist organizations. He speculated that one day down the road, we could very well be battling extremists of any stripe in our own streets.

I pray that it is not the case.

National shame

The number of babies murdered by "Dr." Kermit Gosnell -- the Jack the Ripper of Philadelphia -- will probably never be known, but the despicable ignorance of the mainstream media (MSM) is definitely on display for all to see.

Outside of a few conservative media outlets and Christian media, the Gosnell murder trial has been not just under-reported or unreported in the MSM, it has been covered up, until recently when even some left-leaning bloggers and online outlets finally called out the MSM for its disgraceful non-coverage (yes, it's a word for this instance) of this national shame that has been going in the Philadelphia butcher shop being passed off as a "women's clinic."

In today's edition of the "American Thinker," Thomas Lifson offers his view of the empty press section in the Philadelphia courtroom. Here's a link to his column.

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2013/04/media_on_trial_too_as_gosnell_trial_resumes.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Where have I been?

Wow! Just noticed that it's been October 2012 since I've posted anything on my so-called blog.

Guess I'm not much of a blogger.

Or maybe I'm just lazy.

Perhaps preoccupied with other stuff.

Did I forget about it? I am getting old, or at least I feel like I'm getting old. Maybe I'm already old. Hmmm.

So what's happened since my last post on Oct. 25, 2012? Let's see.

Super Storm Sandy. Halloween. President Obama won reelection.

Thanksgiving. Black Friday. Snow.

Tragic school shooting in Connecticut.

Bunch of college football bowl games nobody watched.

Christmas. Snow. New Year's Eve and Day.

Fiscal Cliff (naughty, irresponsible brother of Jimmy Cliff). Gun control debate.

Spring in early January in Ohio. Cold again.

Goodness. Too much bad with the good.

Praying for brighter days in 2013.

Debates, huh, what are they good for?

I'm watching the tail end of the Ohio U.S. Senate debate between Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) and Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel (R), and at this point, I'm looking for a third-party candidate for whom to vote.

So I guess I need to learn more about Scott Rupert.

I'm so glad we're just about a week and a half away from election day. This election season has been exhausting from the standpoint of the contentiousness and venom that's been spewed by all sides involved in this thing. I've said it before, there's enough blame to go around for our problems here in these United States of America, but, of course, some bear a little more responsibility than others.

I didn't watch the presidential debates or the vice presidential debate live out of respect for my sweet wife's sanity. She's not a fan of the fiddle faddle and mish mash that's usually associated with the so-called debates. So I watched them on YouTube afterwards.

Naturally, as a conservative, I was pretty happy with what I heard from Gov. Mitt Romney, and not so happy with what I heard from President Barack Obama. But as far as declaring a "winner" in these so-called debates, I'll pass on that. Besides, these things are more like forums than actual debates.
And we're not in college or high school here, there's no "winner" in these so-called debates.

Another reason that I didn't watch the debates live is because I already knew who I was supporting, knew where Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan stand on issues that are important to me, and knew that President Obama's values and stand on those issues don't reflect my own.

So I'm ready to vote. Nov. 6 can't come quickly enough.

Yeah, I know I can take advantage of early voting, but I enjoy the hubbub of election day, so I can wait a little longer.

Southern Baptist panel: Can Christians vote for a Mormon?

Good read about a panel discussion at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.

http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=38688

Egyptians attack U.S. embassy

Anger about an unnamed video apparently sparked Egyptian protesters to attack the United States embassy in Cairo. The video in question apparently casts Islam and its prophet Muhammad in a negative light, according to the protesters.

Although the video has not been identified, embassy officials issued a statement condemning "the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others ..."

Protesters tore down the U.S. flag atop the embassy, tore it to pieces and attempted to burn portions of it. They then replaced the Stars and Stripes with a black flag bearing the message, "There is no god but God and Muhammad is his prophet. The black flag is apparently similar to banners used by al-Qaida.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/09/11/egyptian-protesters-scale-us-embassy-wall-in-cairo/

Just say no to "allies"?

The White House has declined a request from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to meet with President Obama during the PM's visit to NYC later this month. Apparently, the POTUS will be too busy fundraising to make time for one of our closest "allies". Story from FoxNews.com.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/09/11/early-frost-white-house-gives-chilly-response-to-proposed-obama-netanyahu-talk/

Ferris Bueller's guide to second grade

At the risk of waxing cliche, it seems like only yesterday when we first laid eyes on Joel the 5-month old baby in Guatemala .... and now he's starting second grade!

Yep. Tomorrow my baby boy will not only report for his first day of second grade, but he will also turn 8-years old on Wednesday, Aug. 22.

As Ferris Bueller famously quipped, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

And how!

Admittedly, over the course of my life, I have wasted far too much time chasing after things that have turned out to be, well, a waste of time. I've tried to change that trend over the past eight years, experiencing moderate success along the way.

The past year alone has been a whirlwind for us, making a major move after calling Gallipolis, Ohio, home for 17 years. Now we call Zanesville, Ohio, home. The move brought with it many other changes aside from the location.

When Joel entered first grade last fall, it seemed as if the passage of time moved into high gear. Add in church activities and Cub Scouts and high gear really doesn't sufficiently describe the pace of life. Oh yeah, we're playing soccer this fall, in addition to all of the other fun stuff.

Ole'! .... Ole'! Ole'! Ole! .... Ole'! .... Ole'!

And now second grade. We met Joel's teacher at the National Road Elementary open house on Monday evening. Miss Wilson is a sweet lady. In fact, all of the folks at National Road are very nice. I worked there as a substitute teacher last spring and really enjoyed the experience. Anyway, after meeting Miss Wilson, we're looking forward to a great school year.

Joel and I have had several talks this summer about behavior and attitude, and what Jolene and I expect from him this school year. We had some rough patches last year, but I think 2012-2013 will be better.

I never understood this when I was a kid, but this whole school and growing up business is really a team effort. When the kid is in second grade, so are the parents. So not only is Joel a second-grader at National Road Elementary, but so are Jolene and I. Well, probably me more than Jo. You guys that know us well know that's the truth!

As we enter this next phase of our lives, we are praying for God's guidance and wisdom to help us do the right things and provide Joel with the instruction and direction that he will need.

Hot! Hot! Hot! But thankful on this Independence Day

Yeah, so we've been without electricity at our house in Zanesville, Ohio, since, oh, about 10 minutes until 6 p.m. on Friday, June 29, but who's keeping close track of that?

Hmmm? Not I, said the duck.

Anyway, it's been a fairly miserable week from a comfort standpoint, but we're definitely not the only ones in this exceedingly hot boat. My fellow Americans from Midwest to the Mid-Atlantic Coast -- a bunch a million of us -- have been, and are still without electric power. But some are better off than others.

Elderly folks, those who live alone, those with disabilities; there are many whose struggle with the heat and humidity is much greater than what we are facing at the Carter house.

Each night as we have settled down to sleep, we have thanked God for the blessings of a roof over our heads, running water (hot and cold), working vehicles with air conditioning, places to eat and find respite from the heat, and a variety of other amenities that we enjoy in these United States of America.

We have these benefits thanks to the freedom and liberty secured for us with the blood, sweat, and tears of patriots who dreamed a dream of a better life for themselves and those who would follow in their footsteps. We enjoy all the benefits of that freedom and liberty thanks to those who continued to believe in that dream and fought to keep that dream alive.

Those who gave themselves in our place paved the way for the great thinkers and doers who developed all of the great technology that makes our lives easier. Without freedom and liberty, so many of the things we enjoy today would have never existed.

It's Independence Day, and I am compelled to pause and remember, to honor, to shed some tears for all of those -- both famous and unknown to the history books -- who made the sacrifices that allow me to live the life that I do today.

And as I celebrate living in a free land, I also celebrate the ultimate freedom afforded me by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who was crucified, buried, and rose again the third day to grant me the gift of salvation.

Thank you, Lord Jesus.

Come quickly, Lord Jesus.