Booger Men and Small Rebellions

Small Rebellions...
You may ask what in the world are small rebellions? Well....They are small but powerful acts of kindness. In Christianity today we do not hear about plain old kindness much anymore.

Could it be the "Booger Man of Busyness" the need for approval of man? The status quo of I'm so busy - so poopular (spelling intentional) I have no time to be kind?

(Please feel free to mute music at bottom of page)

Last Sunday we visited my 81 year old dad...
...and the above song was playing as we crossed the bridge trekking over a lovely sparkling bay, the drum were powerful the words to the song even more powerful. This song is by the Christian group, Jars of Clay. There is something about this song...My little family will agree. When we hear this in the car it's as if "This is our mission for the Lord!"

Our visit with my dad included going out to eat, talking about the old days and at one point I held my dad in my arms as he wept real tears as he recounted his dying mother, my real grandmother who I am named after... He was a blonde curly headed little boy visiting his mommy in the hospital in her last days, Christmas time 1940. She had been poisoned by the very treatment that was supposed to have cured her cancer back in 1940, passing away two days after Christmas. She was delirious and shook my dad as a wee little boy telling him, "Talk to me! Talk to me!" He sadly recounted so pitifully...I told her "But I am talking to you Mommy..."

What child deserves that?

Daddy wept and I walked slowly to his side of the room and sat smack next to him squeezing into his easy chair with him as I put my arm around him as he cried. Our four girls quietly came around and my dear husband was there next to us. I'm not sure where I'm going with this but sometimes we need to weep with those that weep, it speaks louder than words. There is a powerful solace in wiping the tears away from someone's eyes.

Every day there are small rebellions against the "Booger Man" of busyness.

When my 81 year old mom comes to visit I have decided it's much better for me to sit with her and visit instead of trying to do a million other things. She usually comes once a week. I'm an only child. (enough said on that). But I have noticed when I do this she is much more cheerful.

And it goes for grandparents too, many are so busy in social, political and church activities they don't have time for grandchildren. That is so very sad, they sell out, they cave for cheap poopularity too. And then many wonder what happened? Same things for moms, they are so busy blogging they are ignoring their children at times. I learned my lesson on that one several years ago.

People know how they feel when they are around you even when they don't remember what you said.

Do you ever visit new churches and you feel as if you are an outsider in a private club? I have and it's one of the loneliest feelings ever. It's the Booger Man of busyness, the Booger of status quo many times, those big fish in their very small ponds.

This Booger Man steals time from our children, our homes even the way we eat and think. So many hurting people around us even at the grocery stores, we can be the changers! We can be that small rebellion the slayers of the Booger Men of discouragement! Joy Givers for Jesus!

Many Booger Men today.... Booger Men of busyness, manmade religion, pride and materialism and many more. Booger Men of blogging too. And let's not forget the much esteemed Three-Headed Booger Man of multi-tasking!

Why do people try to impress people they don't even like? People they do not even know?

Do you know of any Booger Men you have slain this week with acts of kindness? Small rebellions?

Some of our best friends are in the nursing home, do you know people of all ages live at nursing homes?

This is me with my buddy, he can't hear well and is learning to speak, a darling, if he doesn't touch your heart, no one will. And Michelle, one of our daughters with another sweet buddy friend. Joy givers to (us).



They are some of our very best friends, these guys are angels. They in fact are the very Booger Man slayers for US many times!

Just yesterday we were there with our buddy-friend-angels and a beautiful black woman, a resident there, a woman who dresses so very tastefully, she tells me her sister is much like a Martha Stewart and picks her clothes for her, her name is Teresa. She cries, she is so touched by the praise and worship...I have the privilege of wiping her tears. There is something about that. Just something about wiping someone's tears... It slays the Booger Man. a small rebellion of KINDNESS. JESUS. Human touch is so very, very important, it's like a soothing balm that heals...it heals to the innermost being.



My Greatest Friend by John Drysdale
(I love this print, I saw it in a hippie pizza restaurant bathroom in an old two story house in midtown.)

This print to me shows what can happen when we perform those small rebellions, those small but great acts of kindness for JESUS.

Let's remember to slay that Booger Man of Busyness. Say NO to the Booger Man of Busyness poopularity, status quo and his partner the evil multi-tasker!

Don't let the Booger Man of Busyness steal from your family and the lonely right around you! He might be masquerading in your church! Only YOU can see him!


What Booger Man are we hiding from or refusing to see hiding in our homes, in our lives? What Booger Man are we playing or flirting with and who are we trying to impress? Slay the Booger Man!
Reach out in small rebellions for JESUS. Be Jesus with skin on to others...Let's be a slayer of busyness, be a Knight of Goodness and CARE for others. You may say you are not a sensitive person? Pray to be a sensitive person. Use words when necessary. It's freedom.

Amen. ~Amelia

The Question of Kosher Meat

Philip Schein's Story:
The Question of Kosher Meat

"...I grew up eating meat, not protesting it. I am Jewish and I was always told that kosher meat was humane. I was told that how we treated those beings in our power mattered greatly, that it was what defined us as human beings. It was a way of approaching daily life that made me proud to be Jewish.

Today I have conducted more than ten undercover investigations at major kosher slaughter facilities from Nebraska to Uruguay. This firsthand experience on kill floors quickly shattered any naive hopes I held out that kosher meant humane.

In South America, which supplies a large percentage of kosher beef to Israel and the United States, the standard method of kosher slaughter is the "Shackle and hoist" technique, in which cattle are chained, tripped, and restrained on the ground while their throats are cut, and then they are hoisted immediately into the air to be bled out while still conscious and struggling. In the U.S., at what was at the tie the world's single largest kosher slaughter facility, I've seen workers systematically hacking out the tracheas and esophagi of conscious and wide-eyed cattle. I've seen workers shock animals in the face with electric prods and let animals languish for minutes as the result of sloppy religious slaughter techniques. All these violations are a matter of public record now and they were widely reported on in the media. You can see the videos at www.humanekosher.com. These practices are not standard and certainly not required by kosher law,but I'm ashamed how many other examples I could give of egregious cruelty at kosher facilities. And even more shameful than any of these abuses is the response to them by kosher certification authorities.

I expected these violations of the Jewish principle of compassion to animals to be condemned. I also expected that the meat from these slaughterhouses would be declared unkosher, but that is not what happened. Many in the Jewish community protested, but the leadership of the kosher industry insisted and still insists that the flesh of animals who die torturous deaths - even animals dismembered while conscious- can be perfectly kosher. It's not that the situation is necessarily worse in kosher slaughterhouses than conventional slaughter facilities - the problems with cruelty at mainstream slaughterhouses are arguable worse overall. But I expected kosher production to reflect a higher ethical standard. Sadly, what I witnessed in both kosher and nonkosher facilities is that suffering and cruelty is systemic in all forms of industrialized slaughter.

And regardless of what happens at the slaughterhouse, almost all the animals killed for kosher meat re supplied by the very same cruel factory farms that supply animals for conventional slaughter..."

"...(Vegetarianism) is my protest against the conduct of the world. To be a vegetarian is to disagree - to disagree with the course of things today...starvation, cruelty - we must make a statement against these things. Vegetarianism if my statement. And I think it's a strong one."


Did you know?


The vast majority - over 95 percent - of animals are raised in factory farms and not on the old-fashioned family farms of memory.

All of the above are excerpts from the book, Veganist by Kathy Freston.
~ Photos on this blog entry from Robert Stock

This blog is not liberal or conservative. This is a Christian blog, these issues are issues of mercy and justice, issues very dear to my heart. Yes, as you will most likely agree the Father cares very much how we treat animals. I don't understand the blind eye and seemingly cold calloused hearts at times...It blows my mind...But it is also very encouraging to me to know there are others who see this cruelty for what it is and take a stand for these innocent creatures. ~Amelia

P.S. Here is a very good sermon recommendation:
Ten Shekels and a Shirt by Paris Reidhead

This is a deep sermon you may want to listen to more than once. One of the most listened-to sermons on sermonindex.net. Oh that we as Christians would be consistent.

See it! The Movie: Courageous & Another Golden Oldie

~Robert Stock
I'm not one to jump up and down when a new movie comes out, and I've been guilty I suppose of not being that excited when Christian movies come out...I tend to be a bit on the passive side of excitement. I think maybe I've been so disappointed in people and things in typical lukewarm Christiandom or should I say Churchdom, and the system, I tend to think okay, maybe so...maybe so...

Now please know this has no bearing on my personal relationship with Jesus. He is the same always with me, my sweet Jesus is who upholds me, He walks with me and He talks with me and He tells me I am His own and and the joy we share as we tarry there.. no other has ever known. And I know there are good churches out there but we may have to drive over an hour to get to them or have homechurch, and we do both.

But I must say the new movie Courageous is a MUST SEE!

Our family went to go see it last Saturday afternoon and oh my, oh my, oh my! You will be on the edge of your seat! This movie will make you laugh and cry and bite your nails in suspense the entire time! You will NOT be bored!

I do have one warning though. The previews at the particular theatre we went to were HORRIBLE. At our particular theatre it would have been much better to arrive 15 minutes late and bypass the previews. My hubby and I were livid. I looked at our girls and they had their heads down thank God. Our daughters are ages 17 to 28 by the way so hopefully that tells you something.

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And for the at home movie watchers such as us?
As many of you know we love, love, love, old black and white movies. They are so much and full of character than the stuff out there now with the exception of wonderful Christian movies like Courageous above.

Our family recently enjoyed:

The Catered Affair (1956)



Many, many life lessons in this movie. Serious poignant stuff here...We were so touched by it. We've viewed this one several times.

You will see how comparing and keeping up with the Jones will affect families. So very sad but so rich in lessons.

We just love Ernest Borgnine in most all movies we've seen with him. Betty Davis is in her later years, and what a part she plays, so different than what we are used to when we hear the name, Betty Davis. There is a darling Irish uncle in the small apartment too...and of course I'm partial to the Bronx...That is where my step dad was from. We loved him so.

At the end of the movie, I looked at our 28 year old daughter and she had tears in her eyes...If you see the movie you'll see why...

Life lessons, life lessons, life lessons, oh that we would learn sooner than later and sometimes movies like this will keep us in line.

"This story uncovers real feelings in a real world." ~Ernest Borgnine

See this wonderful trailer HERE:

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For a good entry: Abhor that Which is Evil by guest writer and friend see our daughter Michelle's blog HERE.
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Take care all, as mothers we can make our homes a haven with our attitudes, we can make everyday a party and every simple meal a feast!

I have two last suggestions in the way of books that may help with that for us parents:

I may not agree with every teensy thing in these books but all in all, they are delightful. Mrs. Sharp's is a idea packed book of simple monthlyVictorian celebrations in the home. All very do-able. Beautiful book. Last Child is a life changer, a real eye-opener in this age of electric plugs and gadgets, the Lord used this book in our journey back to the country.

Mrs. Sharp's Traditions
and Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder

Let's not forget the B.I.B.L.E yes, that's the book for me.

My favorite devotional: Streams in the Desert

Time's a-wastin' so I better get going! Enjoy your families! Blessings! ~Amelia

Everyday happening in our home will be found at MyForestCathedral.blogspot. For recipes and additional old great movie suggestions you will see updates soon on thats-italian.blogspot.