Free Republic

        AND THIS TOO SHALL PASS An Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent him a sentence to be ever in view, and which would be true and appropriate in all times and in all situations. They presented him with the words: ”And this, too, shall pass away.” ~ Abraham Lincoln 30 September 1859 HAPPY 203rd BIRTHDAY, PRESIDENT LINCOLN    

        THE WOMAN WITH THE ROSE John Blanchard stood up from the bench, straightened his Army uniform, and studied the crowd of people making their way through Grand Central Station. He looked for the girl whose heart he knew, but whose face he didn't, the girl with the rose. His interest in her had begun thirteen months before in a Florida library. Taking a book off the shelf he found himself intrigued, not with the words of the book, but with the notes penciled in the margin. The soft handwriting reflected a thoughtful soul and insightful...

        REFLECTIONS ON GROWING OLD(ER) Someone once said that we are now living in the age of age. In fact, there are more old people alive today than at any time in history. Faced with the fact that you will someday be, if you are not already, in the category of the aged, the old, or the elderly, how do you, or will you, look upon the final chapter of your book of life? Some look at age philosophically, like Jack Benny, who said: "Age is a matter of mind; if you don't mind, it doesn't...

        TITLES AND POWER Now I see why powerful people often wear sunglasses....the spotlight blinds them to reality. They suffer from a delusion that power means something. They suffer from the misconception that titles make a difference. They are under the impression that earthly authority will make a heavenly difference. Can I prove my point? Take this quiz: * Name the ten wealthiest people in the world. * Name the last ten Heisman trophy winners. * Name the last ten winners of the Miss America contest. * Name eight people who have won the Nobel or...

        NEVER ENOUGH TIME While I have only been an occasional visitor to Washington, I was struck by one scene so strongly that it remains as somewhat of a reference. My first view "up close and personal" of the Pentagon was neither awe-inspiring nor intimidating. To be sure, I was impressed with the size of the building, but that was about it. What came upon me, and has stayed with me, is the image of an ant farm. An enormous one, surely, but an ant farm nonetheless. So many passageways with so many ants constantly traveling...

        LIVING PRAYER Brother Lawrence was a monk who lived almost 300 years ago and worked in the galley of his monastery. He wrote a book, The Practice of the Presence of God, which today is considered a classic in the area of Christian devotion. Brother Lawrence spent much of his time in the monastery scullery scrubbing pots and pans. He also had a collateral duty as the monastery cobbler. In these jobs, he said, he learned to glorify God in simple tasks and to pray with his hands. By bringing to each small job the...

        THE GIFT OF THE MAGI Those of you who are more "mature" Marines & Sailors will remember one of the pre-eminent TV series of the '50's, Rod Sterling's Twilight Zone. Many of these programs were quite scary, but they usually had a good moral and made the point in a rather unforgettable manner. On one episode, an astronaut is readying for his blast off on a fifty-year mission to outer space. He is to be placed in a state of suspended animation and will not age one day by the time he returns to Earth....

        ATTITUDE Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room's only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back. The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, and where they had been on vacation. Every afternoon when the man in the bed by...

        THE VISIT A lady in a faded gingham dress and her husband, dressed in a homespun threadbare suit, stepped off the train in Boston, and walked timidly without an appointment into the president's outer office. The secretary could tell in a moment that such backwoods, country hicks had no business at Harvard and probably didn't even deserve to be in Cambridge. She frowned. "We want to see the president", the man said softly. "He'll be busy all day," the secretary snapped. "We'll wait," the lady replied. For hours, the secretary ignored them, hoping that the...

        YOU ARE NOT SUPERMAN There are times when some events of life overwhelm us. Things at home or things at work can drain us. Sometimes we sense an urge to be "Superman" or even "God." We want to "fix" things or "make everything better." In reality, this feeling can be the source of great stress and tension. We sometimes have to admit that certain things can't be fixed; certain things will not go away. Got a problem, talk about it. It may not get "fixed" or go away, but you will feel better! CAPT Thom...

        PSALM 95:1-6 "O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also. The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down: let...

        THE KEY TO FAILURE I recently read a devotion in God's Little Devotional Book for Women, which really touched my life. This book was copyrighted in 1996 by Honor Books, Inc. in Tulsa Oklahoma. The story on pages 98 and 99 tells of a painter who wanted to produce one work which would please everyone. So she painted a picture, and hung it in the public marketplace. She posted directions for people to mark the places they did not like with a small paint brush. She was surprised when she returned to find her picture...

        THE MAN IN THE GLASS I first heard the poem some years ago as a song performed by a former pop musician turned Christian entertainer. Its words had a powerful impact. They were a challenge to self-examination, and a warning about the consequences of life lived without integrity. They were a reminder that each of us must live with his or her self. And that we KNOW what's behind our image, no matter how carefully crafted, or how convincing it may be to others. I wonder if it might also speak to you. It's entitled...

        LEADERSHIP AND LISTENING "Listen to what I am saying," Job cried out to his "friends" in the biblical story. "That is all the comfort I ask from you. Give me a chance to speak, and then, when I am through, sneer if you like." Job didn't ask for much. But it was more than these colleagues were prepared to offer. Unfortunately, such encounters are far too frequent -- even among those we would expect to care about what we think or feel. Back in 1989, Admiral Carlisle Trost (then Chief of Naval Operations) asked a...

        IMPORTANT WORDS The SIX most important words: "I ADMIT I MADE A MISTAKE." The FIVE most important words: "YOU DID A GOOD JOB." The FOUR most important words: "WHAT IS YOUR OPINION?" The THREE most important words: "IF YOU PLEASE." The TWO most important words: "THANK YOU." The LEAST important word: "I" Unknown    

        LIFE CHOICES What would you do? You make the choice. Don't look for a punch line...there isn't one. Read it anyway. My question is: Would you have made the same choice? At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves learning-disabled children, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question: "When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does is done with perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as...

        TIPS FOR THE PITS We have all been there....Blue Monday. Nothing is more miserable than feeling depressed. Depression has been, and continues to be, the world's #1 public health problem. All of us are susceptible to depression. It all begins with the blues, which come and go like the common cold. The "Poor Me" syndrome hits us and drags us to the pits of depression. What are the signs of depression? Dragging through the day, wondering how we will get through it; getting bogged down at the least little obstacle; thinking negatively about everything; all...

An organization representing more than 2,000 of the nation’s 5,000 military chaplains announced Wednesday they would join forces with Catholic Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese for Military Service, saying they will not perform same-sex ceremonies. The 2,000 members of the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty, a group of evangelical clergy, are concerned about the Pentagon’s memorandum – issued 10 days after the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal took effect – that authorizes chaplains to officiate “any private ceremony.” A Sept. 20 order lifted the military’s long-standing DADT policy, allowing homosexuals to openly serve in the armed forces. While the...

        YOU WILL NEVER BE SORRY FOR..... thinking before speaking, hearing before judging, forgiving your enemies, being candid and frank, helping a fallen friend, being honest in your work, standing by your principles, blocking your ears to gossip, being courteous and kind. Unknown    

        RESERVATIONS Recently, someone stopped by my office, handed me two sheets of paper, and said something to the effect of, "You're always sharing something with people; here's something for you." Then he was gone. Like so many encounters we have along life's way, this one was brief. But it left a lasting impression, and brightened my whole day. The article is definitely a "keeper." Originally written by Jonathan Lee for the Washington Post, it is entitled "Reservations of an Airline Agent." I've abbreviated it due to limited space, but the point is unchanged. Enjoy! "I...

        HOW TO SPEND THE DASH I read of a man who stood to speak at the funeral of a friend. he referred to the dates on her tombstone from the beginning....to the end. he noted that first came the date of her birth and spoke of the following date with tears, but he said what mattered the most of all was the dash between those years. for the dash represents all the time that she spent alive on earth...... and now only those who loved her know what that little line is worth. for it...

        U-571 U-571 is a truly an "on the edge of your seat" film about a US Navy crew trying to sail a Nazi U-Boat to England in 1942 (won't explain how that happens, see the movie). In one scene, the boat is attacked by depth charges from a German destroyer. The crew turns to the young skipper for guidance and asks what they should do to save the boat and their lives. He says he doesn't know. Somehow they survive this attack. The wise, crusty Chief then has a fatherly chat with the skipper in...

        MOVING BEYOND CAPE BOJADOR The early Portuguese explorers believed that the oceans were impassable below Cape Bojador, a point on the West African coast. When sailors set aside their fears and moved past Cape Bojador, they found that their fears were groundless, that their limitations were imaginary. We all have our own Cape Bojador. We fear things that we need not fear. We draw boundaries around areas of our lives and decide that we can't go past them. Since we believe these false paradigms, we will stay within their artificial boundaries and lose whatever experiences...

Rev. Vincent Lachina JACKSON, August 16, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The claim of a clergyman who is also a chaplain for Planned Parenthood that he is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention has been repudiated by a spokesman for the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board in comments to LifeSiteNews.com Dressed in a clerical collar, Rev. Vincent Lachina urged the crowd gathered for the Mississippi Secretary of State’s Personhood Amendment Hearing last Wednesday to vote against the pro-life amendment. He prefaced his remarks by saying, “I am an ordained Southern Baptist minister with 47 years of service to the family of God....

        WE NEED EACH OTHER Like the light of a fiery meteorite streaking through the night sky, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the destiny of all persons on this planet is moving to an understanding of interrelatedness. As our world grows smaller, due to modern transportation systems and advanced telecommunications, the message is resoundingly clear ... no person is an island. Although there remain "hot spots" around the world, most people are now discovering that we can no longer be independent but rather we must be interdependent. In other words . . .WE NEED EACH...

        INTEGRITY: The Heart of Navy Core Values by A Submariner The following essay was written by a young enlisted submariner as a disciplinary assignment after a Captain's Mast for taking a shortcut in a maintenance procedure. Both the author and his Commanding Officer have agreed to its publication. Integrity is the heart and the very essence of each Navy Core Value, but more importantly, it is the foundation on which every aspect of submarine operations is built. Integrity must be the standard instilled within the innermost heart of every man who takes a submarine to...

        ON A GOOD DAY Our worth is tested every day. We are given the choice of being nice to people or uncharitable. We are given the choice of doing our work as well as we can or of goofing off. Some days it seems the tests are harder than on others, but every day brings with it some kind of test. Even the really good days! To have everything go wonderfully for us, to feel like a million dollars, to have one of those days when nothing and nobody can upset us, they are days...

        A FRIEND IS.... The person who gives you the better of two choices. Holds your hand when you’re scared. Helps you fight those who try to take advantage of you. Thinks of you at times when you are not there. Reminds you of what you have forgotten. Helps you put the past behind you, but understands when you need to hold on a little longer. Stays with you so that you have confidence. Goes out of their way to make time for you. Helps you clear up your mistakes. Helps you deal with pressure from...

        DOING WELL WHAT OTHERS MAY NOT SEE In the New Testament scriptures, the Apostle Paul talks about the importance of striving for excellence. He writes, "Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." (Philippians 4:8) Allow me to share with you a story about striving for excellence. On one of the arches of a magnificent cathedral in Europe is sculptured a face of great beauty. Yet it can be...

        THE CRACKED POT A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on the end of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the master’s house, the cracked pot arrived only half full. For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots of full of water in...

        HOW BIG IS ONE? As a man walked a desolate beach one cold, gray morning he began to see another figure, far in the distance. Slowly the two approached each other, and he could make out a local native who kept leaning down, picking something up and throwing it out into the water. Time and again he hurled things into the ocean. As the distance between them continued to narrow, the man could see that the native was picking up starfish that had been washed upon the beach and, one at a time, was throwing...

        WORDPOWER!! During the invasion of Salerno, Allied forces employed propaganda on a scale they had never tried before. Artillery was used to fire shells, each containing thousands of leaflets, encouraging the Germans to surrender and promising them humane treatment if they did. The shells would open about 300 feet in the air and rain down the leaflets on German troops. One British Major made no secret of his anger at having to fire leaflets at the enemy instead of high explosives. In a short while, however, he changed his mind. For days his men had...

        A CHEERFUL HEART IS GOOD MEDICINE (Proverbs 17:22) Which came first the chicken or the egg? We may never know the answer to this question, but when it comes to living a fulfilled life, the joy precedes the good feelings. As a matter of fact, the joy is the antidote to the woes of life. Humor is great medicine. Humor helps us to see the big picture. It provides us with a new context by which to view our situation. It gives us a different vantage point which we can use to reevaluate life. Humor...

        ASPIRE TO A VISION A scene in the movie Karate Kid was quite striking. Daniel went to see Mr. Miyagi and found him trimming a delicate bonsai tree. Daniel was fascinated and wanted to try it, but he had no idea how it was done. Miyagi told him to close his eyes and picture in his mind the way he wanted the tree to look. After Daniel found that vision in his mind, Miyagi told him to open his eyes and start trimming the tree. Daniel's every move was deliberate and focused. Then he stopped....

        Words from Ronald Reagan on Memorial Day President Ronald Reagan's June 6, 1984 speech in front of the U.S. Ranger Monument in Normandy commemorating the Rangers' charge up Pointe du Hoc: "Forty summers have passed since the battle that you fought here. You were young the day you took these cliffs; some of you were hardly more than boys, with the deepest joys of life before you. Yet, you risked everything here. Why? Why did you do it? What impelled you to put aside the instinct for self-preservation and risk your lives to take these...

Twenty-one religious agencies that provide chaplains to the military have sent a letter to the military’s chiefs of chaplains voicing strong concern over the absence of religious liberty protections under the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” The letter, which asks the chiefs for their help in urging Congress and the Department of Defense to adopt such protections, reads, in part: “Chaplains are instructors of conscience. Chaplains have a tremendous moral responsibility to insure that when they preach, teach or counsel, they do so in accordance with their conscience and in harmony with the faith group by which they are...

www.catholicnewsagency.com Marine Corps foundation honors heroic Vietnam War priest By Marianne Medlin Marine Cpl. James Capodanno, stands next to the window dedicated to his brother. Credit: Marine Corps Heritage Foundation Triangle, Va., May 20, 2011 / 02:35 am (CNA).- Servant of God Fr. Vincent Capodanno, a chaplain who was killed in action while protecting U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War, was honored with a permanent tribute at the National Museum of the Marine Corps.“The Marines who served with Chaplain Capodanno remember him as the Chaplain who went wherever his Marines needed his comfort and guidance, no matter the personal...

      ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED FROM NOAH'S ARK 1. Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark.2. Stay fit. When you're 600 years old, someone might ask you to do something REALLY big.3. Don't listen to critics -- do what has to be done.4. Build on high ground. 5. For safety's sake, travel in pairs.6. Two heads are better than one.7. Speed isn't always an advantage. The cheetahs were on board, but so were the snails.8. If you can't fight or flee -- float!9. Take care of your animals as if...

          EXAMPLE The most valuable gift you can give another is a good example. "For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you." (John: 13:15) A gentleman known as much for his humanitarian efforts as for being an advisor to presidents from Roosevelt to Reagan, and an industrialist reveals the roots of his giving spirit: "My father was a prominent and greatly love figure in his area of work. . .It was an almost ecstatic experience for me to ride with him when he was on his...

Link Only.

The military establishment, it appears, is willing to drag congressional Republicans kicking and screaming into the post-Don't Ask, Don't Tell era. The US Navy has authorized its chaplains to perform same-sex marriages on military bases in states that legally recognize such unions. That news came in a memo from the service's head chaplain (PDF), dated April 13: Consistent with the tenets of his or her religious organization, a chaplain may officiate a same-sex, civil marriage: if it is conducted in accordance with a state that permits same-sex marriage or union; and if that chaplain is, according to the applicable state...

(CNSNews.com) – Anticipating the elimination of the military ban on homosexuality, the Office of the Chief of Navy Chaplains has decided that same-sex couples in the Navy will be able to get married in Navy chapels, and that Navy chaplains will be allowed to perform the ceremonies -- if homosexual marriage is legal in the state where the unions are to be performed.The advisory came in the form of an April 13 memo issued to all chaplains, in which the Chief of Navy Chaplains, Admiral Michael Tidd, said the Chaplain Corps was revising its Tier I training manuals, which had...

Proverbs 31:10-31 "Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. She will do him good and no evil all the days of her life. She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. She is like the merchants' ship; she bringeth her food from afar. She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens. She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with...

        HAVE I EARNED TOMORROW? Is anybody happier because you passed this way? Does anybody remember that you spoke to them today? The day is almost over and it's toiling time is through: Is there anyone to utter now a kindly word of you? Can you say tonight in parting with the day that's slipping fast, That you helped a single person of the many that you passed? Is a single heart rejoicing over what you did or said? Does the one whose hopes were fading now with courage look ahead? Did you waste the day...

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — In the military, there are more than 3,000 chaplains who minister to the spiritual and emotional needs of active duty troops, regardless of their faiths. The vast majority are Christians, a few are Jews or Muslims, one is a Buddhist. A Hindu, possibly even a Wiccan may join their ranks soon. But an atheist? Strange as it sounds, groups representing atheists and secular humanists are pushing for the appointment of one of their own to the chaplaincy, hoping to give voice to what they say is a large — and largely underground — population of nonbelievers in...

Luke 24 He Is Risen Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you...

        GETTING UNDERWAY A young Ensign, who had just completed his first overseas deployment, was given the opportunity to "show his stuff" by getting his ship underway. As he yelled our commands with great confidence, sailors were running everywhere. In no time, the ship came out of the channel, headed for home. It was accomplished so well that he set a new record for getting a destroyer underway. He wasn't surprised when a seaman approached him with a message from his CO. . . he was surprised to find that it was a radio message. He...

        DARE TO DREAM Someone once commented that "One of the most powerful things in the world is a dream. Not those dreams that come to us while we sleep, but those we consciously pursue while we are awake." Think of how dreams have shaped our modern life. Of Martin Luther King whose famous speech began, I have a dream today." And of Robert Kennedy who said, "Some men see things as they are and ask "Why?"; I dream things that never were and ask 'Why not?'" Think of how children's lives are often shaped by...

        GROWING DEEP AND STRONG One day, my mother and I were working together in the garden where we were transplanting plants for the third time. Grown from seed in a small container, the plants had been transferred to a larger container; then transplanted into the garden. Now, because I was moving, we were transplanting them once again. Inexperienced as a gardener, I turned to my green-thumbed mother. "Isn’t this bad for them?" I asked, as we dug them up and shook the dirt from the roots. "Won’t it hurt these plants, being uprooted and transplanted...

        GIVING There is a story of two young men who were working their way through Stanford University. The day came when they were broke, and something had to be done. One of them had an idea. They would engage the great Paderewski for a piano recital and put their profits toward their board and tuition. All they had to do was guarantee two thousand dollars. The recital was held but only sixteen hundred dollars was raised. Following the performance, the two young men went to Paderewski, offered him the $1600 and added a promissory note...