Girls Dress Like Boys and Boys Dress Like Girls

The unisex movement has incrementally introduced change to the American fabric over the years.  Traditional values that have been accepted and observed were initially questioned, and now are being slowly pushed aside.

It is uncommon to see a lady wearing a dress or skirt in public that is not short or tight.  It is almost a badge of honor for a women to wear a tight blouse or low cut top in an effort to show her cleavage or more. What once was thought un-thinkable for ladies like smoking cigarettes, using vulgar language, and tattoos has become common practice.

Is it no wonder that more boys and males are effeminate in the way they shake hands, talk, walk, and dress. Many complain about women assuming roles in leadership, but many times it is because of a lack of male leadership.

You knew it would not be long before some young person or adult saw the double standard.  Why should girls be allowed to wear what guys wear and guys not be allowed to wear what girls wear?

I thought you might find this article interesting:

Exclusive: Male Student Suspended for Wearing a Skirt

A male student was suspended from a southern Maryland school for wearing girls’ clothing, and the incident has sparked a big controversy in Calvert County.

Warren Evans, an openly bisexual student at Calvert High School, was suspended for violating the school’s dress code by wearing a skirt.

Evans says the school is discriminating against him and does not believe he violated any dress code.

“I don’t think so. Why not? It didn’t say anywhere in the code of conduct or dress code that says boys can’t dress like girls,” Evans commented.

The school district’s dress code policy states schools can regulate dress or even hair lengths.

Students at the school told News4’s Shomari Stone that female students wear skirts of the same length that Evans wore, but they were not suspended.

School officials will not comment on the suspension. They did say the dress code applies to all students, regardless of gender.

Some parents agree with school officials, saying it’s a distraction for their kids when a boy dresses up like a girl in the classroom. Others simply say it’s not appropriate.

But Evan’s father disagrees stating, “Some people aren’t tolerant of that type of thing”.

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Exclusive-Male-Student-Suspended-for-Wearing-a-Skirt-152016685.html

Banning Crosses Erases History

A simmering controversy surrounding the “Ground Zero Cross” exposes the intolerance and absolutism behind ongoing battles over religious symbols on public property. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not Christian conservatives who normally start these bitter disputes. It’s more often atheist activists who seek to alter the long-standing status quo by scrubbing the landscape of the most visible signs of the nation’s religious heritage.

American Atheists, an organization representing the civil liberties of agnostics, filed suit in 2011 to block display of the Ground Zero Cross anywhere on the grounds of the new memorial museum planned for the World Trade Center site. The artifact in question became the best known piece of debris recovered from the terrorist attacks, when workmen spotted it on Sept. 13, 2001. The huge cross beam, presumably detached from the collapse of the North Tower and hurled down with many tons of rubble onto the stricken eight-story structure to its northeast, somehow survived intact and almost immediately became an informal shrine for the tireless crews who labored to clear Ground Zero.

A Franciscan friar blessed the welded girders as a sign that “God had not abandoned Ground Zero.” Later, with the cross installed on a city-approved pedestal, millions of tourists came to pray or leave flowers, but as construction proceeded at the World Trade Center, a crane helped to move the giant welded girders to nearby St. Peter’s Church in 2006.

9/11 family support

The lawsuit insists the relic must remain where it is, but planners for the new museum, supported by many 9/11 families, want the cross returned to Ground Zero as part of the permanent memorial. The lawsuit cites “mental pain and anguish” suffered by the plaintiffs due to “the knowledge that they are made to feel officially excluded from the ranks of citizens who were directly injured by the 9/11 attack.”

Meanwhile, the Anti-Defamation League, which often takes a dim view of religious symbols in government-owned locations, declared that it “fully supports” the inclusion of the cross in the museum.

On my radio show, Edwin Kagin, national legal director for American Atheists, denounced the potential placement of the cross as unfair because there would be no comparable display of atheist or Muslim symbols. But no one happened to recover atheist symbols (whatever they might be) from the rubble. The cross deserves its unique place of honor because of its powerful historic connection to the first dark days after the terrorist attack.

Moreover, America’s leading government-funded art museums all boast collections of sacred objects, including icons, crucifixes and altar pieces exhibited for their historical and artistic significance.

Only religious objections

Had fate shaped the steel beams into any form other than a Christian cross, American Atheists would never think to object to its museum display. The group’s visceral hostility to the cross plays a role in a number of continuing controversies:

•In Woonsocket, R.I., the Freedom From Religion Foundation seeks to remove a World War I memorial topped by a cross that has stood without controversy on city property since 1921.

•In the Mojave National Preserve in California, officials are hoping to settle an 11-year dispute over a “desert cross” first erected on Sunrise Rock in 1934, also to commemorate the sacrifices of those who served in the Great War. In a complicated agreement, private parties have pledged to donate 5 new acres to the 1.6 million-acre federal reserve in return for title to the single acre on which the cross formerly stood before vandals destroyed it. Veterans groups hope to restore the monument, but they must first enclose the area in a chain-link fence with signs explaining that the cross stands on now private property.

In each of these fights, it’s the opponents of long-standing religious displays who seek to impose their narrow views on the rest of us. It hardly amounts to an effort to impose theocracy when people of faith defend monuments that have inspired passersby for generations. In the case of the Ground Zero Cross, for religious believers, the artifact they honor played a prominent role in the haunting imagery after the terror attacks.

Faith-based pluralism

Meanwhile, secular extremists seek to erase such imagery from the collective consciousness and to purge public places of religious reminders. For skeptics, prominently displayed crosses convey the uncomfortable message that the great majority of Americans still honor a faith that self-proclaimed free-thinkers hold in undisguised contempt.

Beneath all the hypocrisy over constitutional restraints and traditional walls of separation, secular activists and self-styled defenders of “civil liberties” seek to transform American society in a way that our Founders and most subsequent generations would never recognize. They seem eager to defend flag-burning, obscenity and every other form of radical expression, while seeking to suppress emblems of the Christian faith that helped shape the nation since the arrival of earliest colonists.

An experiment in enforced secularism might count as a bold departure from the nation’s God-haunted past, but it’s hard to believe it would produce a better country than the beloved, multifarious and clashing religious symbols that have always characterized our faith-based pluralism.

- Michael Medved

Nationally syndicated talk radio host Michael Medved, a member of USA TODAY’s Board of Contributors, is author of The 5 Big Lies About American Business and The Shadow Presidents.

Creative & Free Video Editing Programs

Film editing has come a long way since its beginnings. Editors used to spend many long hours cutting film with razors and splicing sections together using tape or glue. It’s quickly becoming a lost art.

Nowadays, most editors use non-linear editors. These are computer programs that allow users to cut, splice and re-cut movies quickly and easily.

A professional NLE can cost more than $1,000! But don’t worry; with a good editor’s eye and one of these free NLEs, you can make professional-quality videos using your own computer.

YouTube Editor – If you’re looking just to make videos to post on YouTube, you can use the simple editor provided by the site. You’ll be able to cut clips from any video you’ve uploaded and rearrange them into a single video.

It’s incredibly easy to use, but you’ll still be able to add cool transitions and titles. There are also dozens of one-click enhancements like stabilization, color correction and filters.

Windows Live Movie Maker – Windows Movie Maker has been around for a while. You may have even used it way back on Windows ME. It’s made significant strides since its humble beginnings, and is actually a very serviceable NLE.

You’ll be able to import both videos and photos, edit audio and add titles, transitions and a soundtrack. Movie Maker can render in high definition and upload directly to YouTube.

Lightworks – For a much more robust editing experience, try out Lightworks. Even though it’s been used on Oscar-winning films, it’s free!

It has most of the features of the pricey professional NLEs and the interface is attractive and clean. Plus, it supports third-party upgrades. If you have experience using NLEs, you should be able to pick it up pretty quickly.

vReveal – Do you suffer from shaky cam syndrome? You’re in luck, because vReveal is the cure. Its award-winning stabilization algorithms were developed for forensic videography.

Beyond fixing the shakes, vReveal can automatically color balance, fix contrast, and clean out camera noise. You’ll also be able to create titles, and turn videos into incredible panoramas.

www.komando.com/downloads/category.aspx?id=12552

Christians: Savagely Bullied

Sex advice columnist, journalist, and newspaper editor Dan Savage. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Culture Challenge of the Week: Being Christian

It’s a story that’s been largely ignored by the mainstream press–perhaps because it challenges the politically correct storyline that it’s gay teens who are persecuted and bullied. Or perhaps it’s because the bully is a man welcomed at the White House—the creator of the LGBT video crusade against bullying, “It Gets Better.”

On April 16, hundreds of teenage journalists gathered at a conference sponsored by The National Scholastic Press Association and the Journalism Education Association. Their speaker? Dan Savage, the sex columnist and gay advocate who conceived of the “It Gets Better” video campaign. His topic? Bullying.

The “It Gets Better” campaign, which aims to give gay teens an anti-suicide message—that life as an LGBT person “gets better”–has come under fire for promoting the homosexual lifestyle and normalizing deviant behavior.

But it wasn’t the video series or its message that created the problem at the event. Savage—a speaker notorious for using expletives and degrading references to sexuality—used his platform to send teens a different kind of message: that they should “ignore” the “bullsh—“ in the Bible where homosexuality is condemned. To loud applause, he mocked Scripture and called it “100%” wrong on sexual morality. (He opened his speech saying he hoped everyone in the room was using birth control.) As his vitriol increased, Christian teens rose and left the room. (See the video of Savage’s remarks here.)

Savage continued his attacks on the Bible and then made pointed, offensive remarks ridiculing the Christian students who had left the room. Nearly one hundred courageous kids had walked out feeling, ironically, “bullied” by the the anti-bullying crusader who had no qualms about mocking them for their Christian beliefs.

Savage is a sad and angry man, teeming with hatred for the Christianity in which he was raised. His past is no mystery and he never should have been invited in the first place—no matter how much these organization wanted to encourage tolerance and compassion for the victims of bullying. Savage has a history of vulgar, obscene speech and a track record, as an advice columnist, of promoting all sorts of unhealthy behaviors. The adults in charge were so eager to support the LGBT agenda that they neglected to do basic due diligence to consider whether this speaker was appropriate at all.

How to Save Your Family: Have Courage in the Face of LGBT Bullies

The parents of the teens who left Savage’s talk should stand proud of their children’s courage. The Christian students who left were clearly in the minority—and showed great courage in risking the contempt of the speaker and the mocking laughs of their peers. This kind of courage—to stand strong in the face of Christian-bashing–is needed now more than ever.

One of the saddest aspects of this situation is the number of teens who did NOT protest—even if only out of a shared decency or concern for the disrespect shown to their peers. Instead, Savage had the audience eating out of the palm of his hand. They laughed at his crude comments and cheered at his putdowns of Christianity and his disdain for the Bible. These are the future journalists of America? Tolerance, for liberals, extends only so far.

The sponsoring associations originally defended Savage’s remarks for their “thoughtfulness and deliberation,” but eventually reversed course and condemned his “use of harsh language and profanity” as “inappropriate and offensive.” They also distanced themselves from Savage’s Christian-bashing remarks, saying that “ridicule” which “belittled” believers in the Bible, “has no place in our program.”

It’s a case of too little, too late.

The image of Dan Savage–calling the Bible “bullsh—“ because of its teaching against homosexuality—is one seared forever in the minds of those teens.

And that’s just the way he planned it.

5/11/2012, TownHall.com, by Rebecca Hagelin

Rebecca Hagelin is a public speaker on the family and culture and the author of the new best seller, 30 Ways in 30 Days to Save Your Family.

Digital Recipe Organizer

Forkchop keeps all your recipes in one searchable online database. You can make changes, take notes, and create shopping lists for ingredients.

Forkchop makes it easy to share recipes with other users or on Twitter. It also works well on mobile devices.

http://forkchop.com/

E-mail: Keep Your Inbox at Zero

To most people, email has become more of a burden than help. If a repetitive task, like email, is going to be completed efficiently, you must have a system in place. This should come as no surprise. In fact, the Bible commands it in I Corinthians 14:40, “Let all things be done decently and in order.”

I receive a fair amount of email. I just checked my email for the first time today (I’m writing this on a Saturday–typically a low day), and I currently have 26 new messages in my inbox. This is mail that I haven’t opened yet. I receive email from customers, vendors, printers, co-workers, and many others. I learned very quickly that if I want to get meaningful work accomplished, I must create a simple system to spend less time with email so I can spend more time doing things that matter!

Let me stop here and say, I have read many articles and received tons of insight on the best way to process email. Unfortunately, I have found the “best way” doesn’t exist. You may read through my setup and say, “That will never work for me!” I encourage you to then adapt the principles below to something that will work for you. Your system is the best system.

This is how I process email with purpose.

Setup
I began with completely rethinking my setup. I simply reduced the number of folders within my email account to just 7. I know people who have hundreds of folders and subfolders within their email accounts! Why? With the powerful search functionality available in most email clients, you have a Google-like search tool at your disposal to do the heavy lifting. Forget trying to remember what folder you stuck that sales quote from 2008 in!

All of my folders are labeled by the action a message receives:

Folder #1 – Inbox
For email that is unread and unprocessed *only*

Folder #2 – @Respond
For email that you can respond to immediately, but requires a response that will take longer than 5 minutes to write

Folder #3 – @Action
For email that requires additional work, research, or information before responding

Folder #4 – @Hold
For email you will want to keep on hand within the next few days (i.e. tracking information, tickets, reservations, etc.)

Folder #5 – @Waiting
For email that will require an action when the sender(s) replies to you

Folder #6 – Archive
For email that you want to save for future reference

Folder #7 – Trash
For spam, junk, and anything else you’ll never need again

Process
By taking the first step above and simplifying the number of folders in your email account, you will be able to process your mail so much easier. Realize you don’t need to respond to all of your mail, you just need to process all of it. This is how I process . . .

1. Delete/Archive
Quickly go through your inbox and delete anything that doesn’t have a place in your life. Next, place any important mail in your archive folder. Remember, your archive folder is a single folder that houses all important mail that may need to be referenced at a later date (e.g. sales receipt). As I mentioned before, to quickly find a past email use the search feature instead of your valuable time. This step alone will eliminate much of the mail in your inbox.

2. Delegate
If I find an email is pertinent to another person, I quickly forward the message to another person. Then, if necessary, I place the email in the “@waiting” folder to follow-up at a later date.

3. Respond
Go through your inbox and locate email that needs a response. Type out a 1-2 sentence reply as fast as you can. Personally, I leave out formal salutations, introductions, conclusions, and non-essential information (I’ll explain this later). Oftentimes, I don’t even sign my name. I no longer treat email the way I treat postal mail! And, by doing so, I have saved much time.

4. Defer
It’s okay to return to mail that needs additional time, but don’t allow this mail to clog your inbox. Have a specific place you can go back to. If email needs additional information before responding, put the message in the “@waiting” folder. If a response will take too long to respond to, put the message in the “@respond” folder. The goal is then to set aside time to process all of this time consuming email in one big chunk rather than breaking up a productive day to answer intermittent mail.

5. Do
Now this last step is the culprit of overflowing inboxes. If there is a task within an email you can do now . . . *do it*! If you can’t do it now, create an actionable item in your task manager of choice. Your inbox should only be for mail that you haven’t read yet! I don’t know about you, but I don’t keep my bills in my mailbox until they need to be paid. If you keep your inbox tidy, you will respect it more!

Tips
Now that I’ve detailed how I setup and process my mail, here are some practical tips that I have found make processing even faster . . .

Disable auto-check for new mail. A surprising number of people have their email set to check for new mail every minute! During an 8-hour workday that is 480 potential interruptions! Why do we do this?!? I challenge you to go through your emails from the last two weeks and see how many required a 60-second response. My computer and phone is set to check for new mail every hour.

Email Dashes. Group your email in chunks. I do my best to process my email work into hourly “dashes” of 10 minutes. In other words, after new email comes in at the top of the hour, I attempt to clear out my inbox in the first 10 minutes of the next hour.

Don’t check your email at the beginning of your day. The direction of your day is often based on your first accomplished task! You never know what may be hidden in that inbox that will set the course of your day. Get your day off to a great start by accomplishing something of purpose first.

When in doubt, call. I generally take so much time to construct an elaborate, perfectly worded email when oftentimes picking up a phone and calling will save not only time, but potential confusion to the reader. Save time and headaches with a phone call

Communicate “action steps” first, not last. People will always focus on the first thing they read. Forget the introductions and make sure what you are asking for is front and center if you want it to be noticed.

Number your questions. By separating and numbering your questions, you are much more likely to receive all the answers you need.

Make your desired response clear. Don’t make the reader guess what the intention of your email is. When I send an email, I don’t want the response to be another clarifying question. That is not just wasting my time, but others! If you are looking for a specific response make it clear.

Include deadlines. If you need a response by 2:00pm tomorrow, say that in the email. If you don’t include a due date, your response will be delivered whenever it is convenient for the recipient.

Use “FYI” for emails that have no actionable information. A simple FYI signifies that no other action or response is needed. I like getting these because I can quickly hit the “delete key” once the info is processed.

Tell them you’ll get to it later. If you can’t get to that important email today, no worries. Simply send a 15-second response, “I received your email. I will get a response to you by _____________.” Then, you will not keep people guessing.

Use expressive subject lines. Just like newspaper articles, the ones with catchy headlines get read first. Be creative and you will have your emails read and responded to faster than others!

Eliminate unnecessary responses. I don’t waste time with one word responses. Best example. . . “Thank you” and “You’re welcome.” Now don’t get me wrong, I am all about showing gratitude. But that type of email is simply wasting time. If someone assisted you in a major way, handwrite a thank you note instead of replying to an email with a two-word response, “Thank you.” Save your time and their time.

- Nathan Winn
North Valley Baptist Church
Santa Clara, California

Shape Collage for Organizing Pictures Visually – It’s FREE

Make picture collages in less than a minute with just a few mouse clicks.

http://www.shapecollage.com/

Shape Collage was started by Vincent Cheung in 2007 because he had thousands of photos and didn’t know what to do with them. He thought about making a photo collage with his photos, but didn’t like the existing collage making programs. They required too much work to make a collage, they didn’t look nice, and they didn’t give you enough control. He began tinkering around and invented a new algorithm for automatically arranging photos in a collage. Vincent then realized that his algorithm wasn’t restricted to just boring rectangular collages like everyone else, and so, Shape Collage was born!

The Subversion of Marriage

News sources are buzzing with President Barack Obama’s announcement from yesterday: “At a certain point I’ve just concluded that for me, personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married.” (Read CNN article here.)

The first sitting president to take such a stance, Mr. Obama has sided with the activists, rather than with the people who have elected him.

Gay marriage supporters publicly frame the topic so as to make it appear an issue of discrimination and equality. They talk like the issue was long ago settled and that the modern world of thinking people has moved past even the discussion of such petty “injustices.”

In reality, however, when it comes to state-by-state voting on constitutional amendments, traditional marriage gets wide popular support in the poll booths. So far, thirty states have already voted in favor of such amendments. Legalization of same-sex marriage is only achieved by court ruling and legislative action, not by voter referendums.

But marriage isn’t up for popular vote or popular definition. God defined marriage when He created it, and it isn’t for the government, the courts, the politicians, or the people to define.

Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.—Genesis 2:24

Simply put, our president was wrong in his statements regarding marriage. God defines marriage—we don’t.

I am grieved to hear a steady drumbeat of activists who are working to change the public’s mindset. But even if our leaders do gain a majority following in this issue, God’s Word remains unchanged. Subverting God’s design of the institution of marriage can only bring damage—to our families, our children, and our nation.

We must pray with renewed fervency for revival in our country. And we must lovingly reach out to every person in our communities with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

- Pastor Larry Chappell

School Says “Jesus” Shirt is Hate Speech

A Canadian high school student was suspended for a week because wore a t-shirt promoting his Christian beliefs and he was told if he wears it again – he could be suspended for the remainder of the school year.

William Swinimer, a student at Forest Heights Community School in Nova Scotia, was punished for wearing a shirt that read, “Life is wasted without Jesus.” The shirt is a reference to a passage of Scripture from the New Testament.

Swinimer told Fox News that he was told the shirt was a form of “hate talk.”

“I’ve been told by my principal that it is hate talk and is disrespectful to other people’s religions,” Swinimer said. “She said it (the shirt) cannot be in school because people would get offended.”
Nancy Pynch-Worthylake, the school board superintendent, told The Canadian Press that the wording on the shirt is “problematic.”

“If I have an expression that says, ‘My life is enhanced with Jesus,’ then there’s no issue with that, everybody is able to quickly understand that that’s my opinion about my own belief,” she told the newspaper. “If the shirt were to say, ‘Without Jesus, your life is a complete waste,’ then that’s clear that it is an opinion aimed at somebody else’s belief.”

Swinimer confirmed that he had been disciplined a number of times for wearing shirts with religious references.

“I’ve found that they have dissed Christianity quite a bit,” he said. “I do not want to be disrespectful of anybody else’s religions. I don’t want to put down anybody’s opinions. All I want to do is stand up for rights and freedoms of Canadians.”

The school does not have a dress code and Swinimer said students wear a variety of t-shirts. But he said for whatever reason, his Christian shirts seem to get him sent to the office.

“They treat other religions differently than they do Christianity,” he said. “The staff and principal and school board have been very hostile toward Christianity.”

But, he said, they promote other religions in the school.

“If they can pick on Christians in this school, what can they pick next?” he wondered. “Christianity in that school is not being treated the same way. I’m being discriminated against because of my religion.”

Swinimer attends Jesus the Good Shepherd Church, a Pentecostal congregation in Nova Scotia. Pastor Varrick Day told Fox News he is proud of his young parishioner.

“I’m very proud he’s standing up,” Day said. “I think he’s being bullied by the staff at the school and by the school board.”

Day called the suspension outrageous and said he hoped it would awaken other Christians across the nation.

“It’s not about the t-shirt,” he said. “This is what our forefathers fought and died for – this freedom of speech and religion.”

School officials told Swinimer that if he returned to school wearing the shirt, he would be suspended for the remainder of the school year.

“I plan to wear that t-shirt Monday, he said. “Not because I want to be disrespectful, not because I want to defy anybody, but because I believe this is the right thing to do.”

Gimme that Old Time Religion!

My mind goes back to my childhood when we would sing that old song in a rather nostalgic longing for days when God’s Word and ways are honored and revival flooded our land. In a changing world we need to remember “It was good for our fathers and mothers and it’s good enough for me.” Remember some of the other words, “It was good for Paul and Silas… it will take us all to heaven… it will do when the world’s on fire.” To see the magnificent work of God in His church is a strong desire of my heart. I believe we are seeing a returning work of God and it’s going to become even more evident in our not too distant future. The temptation is to make the shortcut and do what everyone else is doing, whether it’s right or wrong. The pressure comes even from well meaning people and is, at times, intense. Compromise here, change this, go here, do this, do that, whatever you do, don’t do this. The pressure goes on with terms such as “be user-friendly, don’t offend, come as you are, do as you please, market and make it happen!”

Change can be welcome and change can be good, provided the changes fall within the category of bringing glory to God. Too often the willingness to change even at the expense of spiritually backsliding is more than acceptable in the reasoning of many Christians. In many cases it is sadly the norm. Anything is accepted if we reap the desired results. We need to keep two verses in the back of our mind as we contemplate our walk with God and service unto Him: “Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD” (Jeremiah 17:5). “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God” (I Corinthians 10:31).

Jim Collins, who wrote the book, From Good to Great, studied businesses in America that went from being a good company to being a great company. In further research in the years since writing his book, he found something else quite remarkable. He asked, “If you were to take one dollar and invest it in every company represented on the stock market, obviously the one that has made you the most money by now in 2005 would be the most successful company. The company he surprisingly revealed was Southwest Airlines! He made the analogy in the old Sherlock Holmes mystery when asking Watson, “What stood out on the night of the murder?” Watson replied that really nothing had stood out that night, casually commenting, “Why the dogs didn’t even bark.”

“Precisely, Watson. What, in fact, stands out is the dogs did not bark that night, so whoever committed the crime was known by the dogs!” Thus we see the suspects were considerably now a shorter list. Collins went on to say, “Back in 1972, there were two dogs that didn’t bark that give us the greatest clues as to why this company succeeded.”

The first dog that didn’t bark was that Southwest was not original. They were not innovators. There was another airline called Pacific Southwest that was copied by the founders of Southwest. They copied their service, their routes, and way to do their basics. The second dog that didn’t bark and has been given little attention is that of the ten original principles that Southwest was founded upon. Basically, nine out of ten things are untouched. They stayed true to the fundamentals, their core belief. So simple yet profound; like it or not, there it is!

Think of it, in all the industries and business enterprises, nothing has been more volatile and risky than the airplane transportation business. Yet, the number one company in the United States for overcoming, staying on track and getting ahead is Southwest. This industry has literally been in crisis and escalated since September 11, 2001. In crisis, the opinion is usually across the board: change, change, change. Others did change and they bellied up. Southwest stayed the same and went ahead. Please keep these thoughts in your mind as we bring up another person who will parallel these truths.

Santiago Calatrava would be deemed by many to be the top man in architecture today. Among his past magnificent projects, he has been given the privilege of designing The World Trade Center’s Transportation Hub, a cathedral-like building that will stand where the two towers of The World Trade Center once stood. What an honor! Additionally, he may soon win the privilege of having his design built, called The Fordham Spire, which would be built in Chicago, and it would become the tallest building in the world.

Calvatrava is a Spaniard of medieval knighthood descent. But this is not what has won him prestige; it is his giftedness in designing useful works of art. Aesthetically beautiful, yet enormously practical is his earmark. He was a sculptor, engineer and eventually an architect. As you look at his works you can see that he incorporates all three trades when drawing up plans for a building. When asked what is in his mind as he plans a building, his answer is illuminating. He says, he observes how a tree grows. He said it doesn’t grow straight up, it slightly twists around, while tapering toward the top. He observed on the other hand, how he places one squared block upon another, much in the same way the backbone is constructed. He noted, “I watched how we stand and duplicated it.” Even to the two foundation-like legs that a few of his gigantic buildings rest upon. His buildings remind me of God’s design: “Honour and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in his sanctuary” (Psalm 96:6).

Allow me to dovetail these things together. We have a model: God. Find His design, how He makes us to stand, how He makes us like trees to grow into the sky. Duplicate His principles, and then in spite of the change around us, don’t change! We need to be balanced and stand and then continue to follow on by growing. The world cries, “Abandon holiness,” yet God says, “O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth” (Psalm 96:9). To disregard God’s holiness is to leave the beauty of life behind. People are saying, “Do away with the Old Book,” or “Water it down!” We hear this even in the prophecy of Isaiah when he said, “That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD: Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits” (Isaiah 30:9-10). Again in the prophecy of Jeremiah we read, “The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?” (Jeremiah 5:31). People are demanding nice sweet little sermons, and they love to have so! Yet God reminds us: “Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls…” (Jeremiah 6:16). “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away” (Luke 21:33).

When we sacrifice the moral absolutes of God’s Word for social expediency, we may lunge ahead, but we leave the manifested presence and power of God behind. I was asked last week, “Pastor, can everybody else be wrong, while I am standing alone on this?” (referring to a matter of biblical truth). I reminded my brother of the crowd who cried, “Crucify!” Oh yes, the crowd can be wrong! “Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil…” (Exodus 23:2). There is an old adage that says, “Before you move the fences, you need to ask yourself why they were put up to begin with.”

Once in a medieval battle a certain country was being bested and the soldiers were running back in retreat screaming, “Bring the standard back to the men.” The men around the standard bearer were either killed or wounded and then the bearer himself was teetering under a wound, and as he was close to collapse, a brave, young soldier ran up to the standard bearer and wielding his sword high, raised his voice and said, “No, never! Let us bring the men up to the standard!” Today we face the same situation, as the old time religion is being abandoned for a more streamline, non-offending, fenceless faith. May we hear the clarion call of holy young men and women who will rise to the occasion and “…earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3).

Let us not run from the battle; let us bring the men back up to the high and holy standard of God. God will still bless “that old time religion!”

- Pastor J. Pope