Wish I Would Have Written This!

I heard this read on TV last night and though it was GREAT and wish to pass it along to you all! I hope Lori Borgman does not mind......she hit the nail on the head!


The Death of Common Sense
BY Lori Borgman

Three yards of black fabric enshroud my computer terminal. I am mourning the passing of an old friend by the name of Common Sense.

His obituary reads as follows:

Common Sense, aka C.S., lived a long life, but died from heart failure at the brink of the millennium. No one really knows how old he was, his birth records were long ago entangled in miles and miles of bureaucratic red tape. Known affectionately to close friends as Horse Sense and Sound Thinking, he selflessly devoted himself to a life of service in homes, schools, hospitals and offices, helping folks get jobs done without a lot of fanfare, whooping and hollering. Rules and regulations and petty, frivolous lawsuits held no power over C.S.

A most reliable sage, he was credited with cultivating the ability to know when to come in out of the rain, the discovery that the early bird gets the worm and how to take the bitter with the sweet. C.S. also developed sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn), reliable parenting strategies (the adult is in charge, not the kid) and prudent dietary plans (offset eggs and bacon with a little fiber and orange juice).

A veteran of the Industrial Revolution, the Great Depression, the Technological Revolution and the Smoking Crusades, C.S. survived sundry cultural and educational trends including disco, the men's movement, body piercing, whole language and new math.

C.S.'s health began declining in the late 1960s when he became infected with the If-It-Feels-Good, Do-It virus. In the following decades his waning strength proved no match for the ravages of overbearing federal and state rules and regulations and an oppressive tax code. C.S. was sapped of strength and the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband, criminals received better treatment than victims and judges stuck their noses in everything from Boy Scouts to professional baseball and golf. His deterioration accelerated as schools implemented zero-tolerance policies. Reports of 6-year-old boys charged with sexual harassment for kissing classmates, a teen suspended for taking a swig of Scope mouthwash after lunch, girls suspended for possessing Midol and an honor student expelled for having a table knife in her school lunch were more than his heart could endure.

As the end neared, doctors say C.S. drifted in and out of logic but was kept informed of developments regarding regulations on low-flow toilets and mandatory air bags. Finally, upon hearing about a government plan to ban inhalers from 14 million asthmatics due to a trace of a pollutant that may be harmful to the environment, C.S. breathed his last. Services will be at Whispering Pines Cemetery. C.S. was preceded in death by his wife, Discretion; one daughter, Responsibility; and one son, Reason. He is survived by two step-brothers, Half-Wit and Dim-Wit.
Memorial Contributions may be sent to the Institute for Rational Thought.
Farewell, Common Sense. May you rest in peace.

Note from Lori Borgman: This piece was first published March 15, 1998 in the Indianapolis Star. It has been "modified" and "edited" by others and circulated on the Internet, even sent to me several times. Imagine my surprise to see it attributed to some guy named Anonymous. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I take having my work circulated on the web as a compliment.

The FREE gift of Easter.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..... For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. Romans 3:23-26 NIV

Easter wasn't always my favorite holiday, but once I knew what the empty tomb signified....Jesus's victory over sin and death, it changed my holiday preferences...cuz nothing can top this!! If you don't understand why Easter is the best....keep reading.

The Holy Bible tells us that we have ALL fallen short of the glory of God....we have ALL messed up and we are ALL separated from Him. Let's face it we humans just mess up. People come into the world and no matter how wonderful a person is, that person is going to sin in thought, word, or deed and probably all three! God is holy and so to be in His holy presence we must be washed clean of our sins and be made holy....we must desire to be like Him....clean and blameless and holy. We need to recognize our need for this transformation......for us to be redeemed.

Thanks be to God He has given us His son for our redemption. Sin came into the world via one man, Adam and the Son of God was sent to cancel that sin for us and to take the blame for all our sins. We will never fully understand this miracle, ....but we must realize and we must have disgust for our sins and turn from them and seek the Lord's forgiveness for them.

It must have been unbearable to carry the weight of every sin on that cross....to feel that separation, but Jesus did it for us as a gift to us....His FREE gift. Think about it....Free....this is the best FREE OFFER you will ever receive because it will effect your life right away.... here on earth and also where you are going to spend ETERNITY. (Eternity is a loooooonnnnggggg time, so think about this carefully.) God is love and because He IS love he made a way for you to be with Him forever and it is through Jesus and His love shown to you through the sacrifice on the cross we are able to be with God. Being in eternity without God is going to be an unspeakable horror....I don't really think we can understand.

So friend, if you have not previously done so, recognize your need...you know you are not perfect and holy like God....nobody is! Pray to Jesus and tell Him you don't want to be the same and you want to be cleansed from your transgressions. You want a new beginning. He is faithful to hear and because of His love for you He will give you the Free gift of a new life which includes being with Him for eternity and also He will help with all the junk right here.....right NOW! It is THE best offer you will EVER receive.

Save us a seat, Doctor Dale

In the past we have written about our good friend and our family physcian, Doctor Dale Boersma and his struggle with ALS....a cruel and dehumanizing disease. We are pleased to annouce Doctor Dale has gone home.....home to be with his Lord. He is now whole and healthy and filled with joy in the pressence of his Lord, Jesus Christ. Although we mourn his passing because it is our loss, we rejoice and celebrate his going from this life to an eternity spent in glory....a place without tears, pain, and unhealthy bodies. I can picture him singing praises to the Lord and even dancing for him. He must feel so free.

While we do have sadness today it is a relief to us that Doctor no longer is held captive in a body that won't respond. He no longer is suffering. For the last two years he had been unable to do all the things he loved to do, sing, help people by being a doctor, work in the yard, study scripture, worship his Lord, spend time with grand kids, and fellowship with other Christians.....oh yeah, and make very corny jokes and puns that made his bride, Helen, roll her eyes.

We are just so thankful we got to share in his time here on earth and we say thank you, Doctor, for your wonderful Christian example and for the love you showed to me and to my whole family. I am happy for you being set free and Jim and I look forward to seeing you again in heaven.... save us a seat!

Basketball?...what, me?!

I don't really like to watch sports on television. Right now I can't believe I am watching basketball.....but Penn State is playing. For some reason basketball just isn't that fun ....not unless you are actually there. I mean....it is like ping pong....back and forth. It is fun watching the ball swoosh through the hoop, and when someone steals a ball, if it helps my team I just love that! Yet, I get bored with it. Call me at the very end of the game and just let me watch it in the last five mins. Maybe it is sports ADHD....or maybe it is just that I have never played a lot of sports.

I enjoy football and I really like to watch golf... maybe it is because the players are outside. I don't know....although baseball is the hardest of them all for me to watch....I mean with all the scratching and spitting. Hahahaa... it just drives me nuts. Now if someone I know is playing that makes it all different.

My dad and my step dad are football guys...they had football on the TV lot...so all my life I watched football more than anything else. I think it is just in my blood. I like the variety in the plays....or maybe their love for that game rubbed off on me.

A couple times I really got into tennis....into Wimbeldon and loved all of that, but that is rare. I usually forget it. I will watch a horse race, too. Now if you have a fav that is exciting, but it is over way too fast.

So you see I really am not a sports watcher....but I seem to watch a lot of sports. Bizarre isn't it?

Yipppeeeeee Penn State just won against Florida! Maybe I will turn into a basketball watcher after all!

Who are they going to play next? I will be checking that out and setting my dvr

St. Patrick's Day Ramblings

I have always known I was part Irish, but knowing my Great Grandfather spoke with a very thick Scottish accent led all of us to believe we were really more Scotch than Irish. Also, my spending habits suggested the same. But when my mother visited the municipal building in Glasgow, Scotland, she found the grandfather she thought was Scotch was actually a refugee from Ireland living in Scotland before bringing his family to the United States. I guess we should have figured that out as they were Roman Catholics. Now, I am not 100% sure I don't have any Scottish heritage, but I am 100% sure Irish blood runs in my veins.....so St. Patrick's day is one holiday I now like to acknowledge. I really never thought that much about it while growing up.

When I was a kid going to school I wore orange to school and not green because as I said above I was operating under the belief I was Scotch and not Irish....soooooo now days I am actually wearing green. Today I wore my shamrock necklace and was proud of my relatively new found Irish heritage .....even if most of my great aunts had Irish cankles instead of ankles. (Yes, I am the lucky recipient of the cankle gene.) I know my grandmother on my mother's side and father's side were both English. I guess that makes me a bonafide, WASP. Hillary Clinton must be a WASP as well, cuz she has her some fierce cankles, too. It is the only trait we have in common....I hope anyway.

So what is my point? I am not sure either.....I am so sleepy I can hardly keep my eyes open. If I think of one I will edit this tomorrow.... or better yet if you find a point to all of this nonsense you can let me in on the secret. GOOD NIGHT