True Thanks @ River Crossing

 

THIS IS A WONDERFUL SERMON ON TRUE THANKSGIVING THAT FLOWS AND FLOWS NATURALLY OUT OF OUR HEARTS. But how do we get this amazing authentic gratitude?

 2 Corinthians 4:5-18

Being Six And Four-and-A-Half

STUART SCHNEIDERMAN ON THE MANY BENEFITS OF GRATITUDE SO MUCH TO BE GRATEFUL FOR, so little time to count our many blessings. Wishing you a blessed, healthy and peaceful Thanksgiving. Thank you for coming by...  

STILL CUTE BUT VERY ROWDY......TILL THEY COMPLETELY WEAR THEMSELVES OUT. 

Reporting briefly, gratefully from Houston, Texas this Thanksgiving......Wishing you the best of this special day of gratitude.

Officer Darren Wilson Not Charged---The Rule of Law Prevails For the Moment

More ABC US news | ABC World News

 Prosecutor Bob McCullough is a class act and voice of reason in the wilderness of high emotional theater. President Obama is a voice of inappropriately inserting himself in something that normally should be none of a US president's business. The media, including Fox News is a voice of making a ridiculous, over-reacting spectacle of itself.

Still, the Rule of Law lives for now in spite of massive political pressure, a black president, black AG, social unrest and much evidence that this the only right decision.

None of it is to diminish the pain and suffering of the Brown family for the loss of their son, or the sufferings of the victims of sexual impropriety at the hands of Bill Cosby.

John Piper Talks on What It Means to Be Gospel-Centered

IN OTHER WORDS, SERVING THE KING AND HAVING A SERVANT ATTITUDE WITH OTHERS. It's much easier said than done and only possible with the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

A Few Words About the Myriad Rape Claims On Bill Cosby's Casting Couch

RELATED

THERE IS FAR TOO MUCH SMOKE FOR THERE NOT TO BE SOME FIERY TRUTH TO ALL THESE TERRIBLE SEXUAL ALLEGATIONS.....FAR TOO MUCH.

In fact, Cosby's pants have got to be on fire for decades now.

So yes, I believe Bill Cosby---like Bob Hope---is/was a major sexual predator---whether it's ever proven---or whether he continues to get by without making a statement addressing these claims. Whether his enabling wife continues to stand by her man and enjoy the good life he's providing.

As far as I'm concerned, he's toast as a role model and American icon of bootstraps success. I find the entire subject sickening and very sad, to be honest, and can't even stand to look, or post, a photo or video of him here at Webutante.

 But there's a little more I want to say about this too: Wherever there's a predator, there's always a person---usually a woman---who wittingly or unwittingly is willing to be a target to be preyed on.  That part of the story is rarely addressed in our post-personal responsible, politically/culturally correct world.  A man may sense her  ambitious vanity, pride, desire to be rich and famous or her poverty and loneliness and act on it.   It's wrong and despicable,  but it still happens all the time.

I mean what smart woman in any private or public setting who's in her right mind would let a man hand her a little white pill or two with a glass or water or wine and take it--- and bottoms up it---without questioning what it was and why it was being offered?

What woman or even teenager would go to a man's hotel room or home unaccompanied, or let him come to hers without at least thinking there might, just might, be an ulterior sexual motive?   Especially if she's in seductive mode herself...with a low cut outfit on with full cleavage exposed?

I mean where do all these women get off without taking any responsibility, ANY, for putting themselves in harms way of a man whose basic instincts are always going to run to his lower limbic brain in times of such titillation and expectation?   Do we really think political correctness will overcome the basic laws of nature?  If so, we've lost our collective mind.

I mean, when I look at photos of  so called 'supermodel' Janice Dickinson,  in the past as well as today,  I see a sexual opportunist who shamelessly flaunts her body.   A predator like Cosby sees her as a target of prey and says to himself---Bulls Eye! Afterwards she wants sympathy for her encounter with him years ago without taking even a tad of personal responsibility?

If women completely get off the hook for their part in such unbecoming liaisons, then we infantilize them and society is really done for.

Bill Cosby is a powerful, influential and wealthy depraved man and I'm sure many women  have vied for his attentions and favors in various ways over the decades.  When Bill senses their  invitations and provocations,  they cannot cry that they had no part whatsoever in the sexual violence and power domination that ensues

Every sexual victimizer like Cosby needs a victim to perpetrate his depraved folly.  Bill Cosby has evidently had more than his share of women willing to swallow those little white pills near a casting couch or opulent boudoir. Both Cosby and his ladies were in the wrong big time.... It happens all the time in Hollywood, Washington and everywhere in between.....and the rest is cloudy, drug/booze-fueled history.

This Cosby fellow is done for, ancient history.  But there are thousands more from where he comes from.

And that's all I shall have to say about that----ever.

Truly Funny---Men At Malls---But Are They Really 'Miserable'?

NO WAY! THESE GUYS ARE HAPPY DOIN THEIR THING...

DON'T USUALLY LINK TO ANY OF THE MASS-PRODUCED STUFF ON AOL BUT TODAY I MAKE AN EXCEPTION. I actually think this little slide show is falling-down-funny....and I'm sure many shoppers will see lots more of this over the next few weeks.... The only thing I take issue with is that these guys are actually miserable. I'd say they are happy to have a break and enjoy a siesta wherever they can..... especially after loading up on all that sugar and starch at the food courts. Take a look at the slide show, and see for yourself the entrepreneur spirit of how men take a breaks at malls, no matter how challenging....the best sleep aid seems to be a public place with a small soft seat...... or not..
 And here's a guy napping in our own backyard with all engines revving..... he didn't even try to wait to get to the mall to nap.

Taken Away To the Darkside--Abes Garden--All About 'Connecting With Nature'---Wakes Neighborhood Up @ 1 AM Again---to Pour More Concrete for Its 'Garden'

THIS WHOLE THING IS SO SIMPLE AND BASIC..... Our issues so fundamental and focused.

Sunday, A Reading From Hebrews

RT KENDALL EXPOUNDS ---I WOULDN'T BE SURPRISED TO SEE ARAFAT IN HEAVEN WITH VIDEO.... 
ESSENTIAL PHRASES FOR TALKING TO YOUTH ABOUT CHRISTIANITY

HEBREWS 12 New International Version (NIV) 

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

God Disciplines His Children

4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6 because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”[a] 

7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? 8 If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! 10 They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. 12 Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. 13 “Make level paths for your feet,”[b] so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed. 

Warning and Encouragement 

14 Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. 16 See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. 17 Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. Even though he sought the blessing with tears, he could not change what he had done.

Is there anything more beautiful to read, pray and meditate on than this passage?  We are reading in Hebrews this week at OneYearBible blog which I link to at the top of my link list.

Stay Vigilent America: Ditch the Rule---Say No To the EPA's Omnipotent Land Use Power Grab

 SEEMS UTTERLY RIDICULOUS THAT A LITTLE PROPOSED WATER RULE COULD PUT EVERY AMERICANS' PROPERTY RIGHTS AT JEOPARDY....RIGHT?

 Wrong.

Ron Arnold writing at The Daily Signal explains why we all need to be vigilant of EPA's expansion and over-reach of the Clean Water Act:

 It seems incredible, but a single missing word could turn a water law into a government land grab so horrendous even a U.S. Supreme Court justice warned it would “put the property rights of every American entirely at the mercy of Environmental Protection Agency employees.” The missing word is “navigable.” The Obama administration is proposing a rule titled “Definition of ‘Waters of the United States’ Under the Clean Water Act,” which would strike “navigable” from American water law and redefine any piece of land that is wet at least part of the year, no matter how remote or isolated it may be from truly navigable waters, as “waters of the United States,” or WOTUS. The proposed rule would provide EPA and the Corps of Engineers (as well as litigious environmental groups) with the power to dictate the land-use decisions of homeowners, small businesses and local communities throughout the United States. There would be virtually no limit to the federal government’s authority over private property.  

 Like so many of federal laws, the government counts on its citizenry to be asleep at the switch not knowing until after the fact what's in the bill as well as its draconian implications. Wake up, America.  Say No to the Rule and omission of the word navigable. 

Do we really want  Obamawaaa?

Feisty Kid Elephant Fends Off Attack By Pack of Lions

YOU GOT TO SEE THIS! SOURCE

Thank You, Fellows, And Thank You Again...

...... AND AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN....Such courage and bravery in an increasingly ungrateful, entitled world. Your work and sacrifices are never easy.

Sunday, After Church.....

GIRLY-G AND G-BOY PICKING UP GINKGO LEAVES OUTSIDE SAINT GEORGES---OR WHAT DEFINES A CHILD IS FASCINATION AND DELIGHT IN SMALLEST THINGS...

 BUSY, FULL WEEK/WEEKEND with children, grandchildren, lots of cooking, a family business meeting in the forest and lots more.

Truly my cup runneth over, by the Grace of a merciful and generous God.

Sniper-Bound----Former Navy SEAL Robert O'Neill Comes Forward As Soldier Who Killed Bin Laden

10 HAPPIEST/UNHAPPIEST CITIES IN US
MORE @ BUSINESS INSIDER

SOUNDS LIKE A SCOTS-IRISH FIGHTER TO ME

SEVENTEEN YEAR VETERAN, AND MONTANA NATIVE,  NAVY SEAL TALKS.  Don't miss this terrific video which I'm not able to embed.

I know this  man's coming forward is controversial, especially with other SEALs.  However,  in this era of total transparency,  it was bound to happen, and I for one have no problem with it at this point.

I do not deny the Navy's strong  argument that it took a lot of men other than the man who pulled the trigger.   Still,  he did pull the trigger and has life lessons to share that we shouldn't ignore. The rivalry will continue.

There's a good story in today's NYPost on why O'Neill is revealing his identity at this point:

The Navy SEAL who shot Osama Bin Laden dead decided to go public after comforting the families of WTC terror victims at the 9/11 Museum in lower Manhattan, a new ­report says.
 
Robert O’Neill spoke to the families while visiting the museum in September to donate the shirt he wore during the nighttime raid on the terror leader’s lair in Pakistan in May 2011. 

“The families told me it helped bring them some closure,” O’Neill told The Washington Post.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), who set up the talk with 9/11 victims, said the meeting was dramatic.
“We came in and had the quiet ceremony and it meant a lot,” Maloney told Business Insider. “People were in tears and the room was not that big.”

When asked about the ­heroic raid on bin Laden’s compound, O’Neill said, “I didn’t think I would survive.”

Apparently O'Neill is now a motivational speaker (soon-to-be-author?) on leadership and preparedness.  I for one would love to hear him speak in person.

Worth Noting---Jon Stewart, Comedian Who Makes A Huge Living Bashing the 1% and Conservatives to Gullible Liberals, Stealthly Sells His Tribeca Duplex For $17.5 Million

DEMOCRAT REP STEVE ISRAEL QUITS, REFUSES PELOSI'S OFFER

HYPOCRISY ON THE ORDER OF AL GORE'S TINY CARBON FOOTPRINT  

JUST SAYING. Also, worth nothing---Stewart hid his ownership in his primary residence on Hudson Street from both fans' and detractors' prying eyes in an LLC:  

"The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart may mock the 1 percent, but he is one of them — and now he’s even richer, thanks to a Tribeca real-estate sale. The political funny­man and social critic just sold his sprawling downtown duplex penthouse at 161 Hudson St., on the eighth and ninth floors, in what appears to be an off-market deal for $17.5 million. The nine-story, prewar boutique building has just 24 units. It was converted to condos in 2004. Actor Jeremy Piven also owns a chi-chi unit in the building. Like other members of America’s super-rich, Stewart hid his ownership of the penthouse behind an LLC, according to public records. He bought the 6,000-square-foot apartment for $4.5 million in 2005.

Please note, I have nothing against anyone buying and selling high-priced real estate. Or making huge  lawful profits from investments. What I do object to is Jon Stewart's hypocritical narrative and silly false politics of envy meme and acting like he's just a working man floundering somewhere deep in the 99%.  Hogwash.

POT.  BLACK.  KETTLE.

Adorable---The Softer Side of Construction: Abe's Garden Workers Do Yoga/Stretches On the Roof Outside My Window At 6:30 AM

DOES IT GET ANY CUTER THAN THIS? I ASK YOU. I tell you, Manny and Mikey think of everything! Or is this Jeff's doing?  What's next,  ballet?  Or  perhaps a symphony performance  under strobe lights in the  middle of the night---Concerto Con Concrete---for the fellows?

An Historic Opportunity Like No Other With Not Even A Second to Lose---We Must Hold New GOP Congress' Feet to the Fire

STOCK MARKET FUTURES WEIGH IN

AS PRESIDENT OBAMA WILL SOON LASH OUT WITH HIS DEFIANT AGENDA
    
DON'T CARE WHAT YOU CALL LAST NIGHT'S ASTOUNDING GOP VICTORY---A WAVE? PARTICLE? LANDSLIDE? ROUT? SWEEP?---it presents an historic opportunity to change the country's hopeless direction and frightening agenda with its tired PC narratives  that were quickly taking us over a cliff.

Celebrations need to be quickly tempered and replaced by action and hard work based on sound  conservative principles. We all need to work overtime, in overdrive.  It's a huge responsibility that's been put on the newly elected. We also need to immediately start recruiting fresh, right candidates for 2016.

I couldn't agree more with Roger Simon writing last night at PJMedia  Hooray for the Wave, Now  Forget It. But I would add, emphatically it will take ALL of us voters participation in righting these wrongs, rather than us walking  away and leaving  Congress to do its thing on Capitol Hill.

Haven't we suffered enough by doing it the other way and giving politicians the benign neglect treatment?

Here are two encouraging signs we should all rejoice in: Rising  GOP star Elise Stefanik goes to the House and  black candidate Tim Scott is  duly elected in South Carolina to go back to the Senate after being appointed to take Jim DeMint's seat by Gov. Nikki Haley in 2013.   So much for the ridiculous war on women and war on blacks false narratives that tired, old Hillary (useless in Arkansas?) continues to exhaust us with.

Everything I voted for in Tennessee, including curtailing Tennessee's being a destination resort for out-of-state abortion seekers and wine in grocery stores, won.  I give thanks that I live in a Red State--though not a red city---and do not take it for granted for one minute.

Meanwhile, back in the country outside Nashville,  my lil  kitten, Snickers,  celebrated quietly with her favorite ball of aqua yarn.

Pssst....Wanna See Something Cute? Nina Reunites With Bentley

OBAMA'S TOP 10 BLUNDERS @ THE HILL

 HAPPY NEWS IN A WORLD awash with everything else. Full story.

Brilliant! How to Open A Bottle of Wine Without A Corkscrew

TRULY AMAZINGLY SIMPLE. And the last thing you need to know on a Monday morning. That's why I'm posting it. Bottle of wine, one shoe, a wall and Voila!

Sunday---John Piper Writes the Christian Response to Brittany Maynard On God and Death By Physician Assisted Suicide, Saying We Are Not Our Own

MONDAY UPDATE: BRITTANY SAYS GOODBYE AND TAKES HER OWN LIFE IN OREGON

I HAVE TWO GOOD FRIENDS, BOTH MY DEVOUT SISTERS IN CHRIST, WHO ARE BATTLING METASTASIZED CANCER RIGHT NOW.  I saw one friend this afternoon, and spoke with the other in Illinois on the phone today.

Both these ladies are courageous and bravely bearing  the suffering God has put on them.  Each is carrying on with lightness, laughter and a hope that's real. The best part is my friends have an eternal perspective in the midst of their trials that gives meaning and depth to their suffering and a fresh poignancy to each new day.  The longer they live, the greater their appreciation for the smallest things in life.

One friend reiterated this afternoon Paul's famous phrase from Phillipians 1:21---For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 

 Which brings me to John Piper and his eloquent response to Brittany Maynard and anyone who is suffering and planning physician-assisted suicide to end their ordeal on their own timing. It's a wonderful read that covers terminal illness, suffering and death from a godly perspective of letting God be in charge and submitting to His timing in all things.

I'm sure many Christians as well as others are very happy Brittany has relented and postponed her November 1 departure. Am also sure, many of us pray that she will live her life until God has fulfilled His purpose for her.