The Mississippi River was flooding its banks and the waters were rising around Clem's house. The waters had gotten to the level of the front porch where Clem was standing. A man in a rowboat came by and called to Clem, "Hop in and I'll take you to high ground."

Clem replied, "No, my God will save me!"

The river continued to rise to the second story windows and Clem, looking out, saw a powerboat come up. The man in the powerboat called to Clem, "Hop in and I'll take you to high ground."

Clem replied, "No, my God will save me!"

The river had now risen to the roof of the house. Clem was sitting on the ridge at the top of the house, with the waters swirling around his feet. He saw a helicopter fly over and the people inside yelled over a bull horn, "Grab the rope and climb in and we'll take you to high ground."

Clem replied, "No, my God will save me!"

The river continued to rise and finally it engulfed the house and Clem was drowned. The next thing he knew, Clem was standing before his God. In anger, he asked God, "I put my trust in you. Why have you forsaken me?"

And his God replied, "What do you want from me? I sent you a rowboat, a powerboat, and a helicopter!"

Obi's notes: God usually answers us through other people, and other people through us. Just food for thought.

Obi's prologue: Now many of you may have heard the story of the professor with the chalk, which is not a true story. However, it is based off of a true story, which follows (slightly dramatized):

There was a professor of chemestry at the Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania in the 1920's who was a deeply committed deist. For those of you who don't know who deists are, a basic summery of their beliefs is that they do not accept the belief of most religions that God revealed himself to humanity through the writings of the Bible, the Qur'an or other religious texts. However, they also disagree with strong Atheists who assert that there is no evidence of the existence of God.

His primary goal for one required class was to prove that prayer was unnecessary and that said prayers go unanswered. At the end of one semester on the last day, he decided to test an experiment. Holding a glass flask up in front of the class, Dr. Lee said he was going to drop the delicate container on the floor and asked if anyone would like to pray first that the flask would not break, therefore demonstrating the reality of prayer.

Richard Harvey, a student at the university at the time, volunteered and prayed. When he had finished, the professor dropped the flask and it rolled off his shoe to the floor without damage. After a few moments of silence and surprise, the class began to clap and cheer.

The professor stopped his annual lectures against prayer the very next year.

Verification: [link]

Obi's notes: There are always three answers to payers: "Yes", "No", and "Not yet".

The eventual choice of December 25, made perhaps as early as 273, reflects a convergence of Origen's concern about pagan gods and the church's identification of God's son with the celestial sun. December 25 already hosted two other related festivals: natalis solis invicti (the Roman "birth of the unconquered sun"), and the birthday of Mithras, the Iranian "Sun of Righteousness" whose worship was popular with Roman soldiers. The winter solstice, another celebration of the sun, fell just a few days earlier. Seeing that pagans were already exalting deities with some parallels to the true deity, church leaders decided to commandeer the date and introduce a new festival.

Western Christians first celebrated Christmas on December 25 in 336, after Emperor Constantine had declared Christianity the empire's favored religion. Eastern churches, however, held on to January 6 as the date for Christ's birth and his baptism. Most easterners eventually adopted December 25, celebrating Christ's birth on the earlier date and his baptism on the latter, but the Armenian church celebrates his birth on January 6. Incidentally, the Western church does celebrate Epiphany on January 6, but as the arrival date of the Magi rather than as the date of Christ's baptism.

(reference) [link]

Obi's notes: I've heard people say that Christmas is a pegan holiday adapted by the Christians, but think about it: Christmas is held on or very near the winter solstice, when the days cease to become darker and start to become lighter. It also brakes/broke up a very long three months where people often have/had little to look forward to and can be easily cut off from others. I doubt Christ was born on the 25th, but I do think it's appropriate we celebrate it on the 25th, as he brings light into the lives of those who believe in him, espcially when they are around others.

So here's to say: MERRY CHRISTMAS! I really hope you have a wonderful year!

Edit: I got an apology this morning and we talked and worked it out. I was really tired, and he didn't mean what he said. So thank you for all of your well wishes. I really appreciate it.

Previous journal entry:

I see my father for the first time in months. He and my grandfather are watching their nightly news, and I'm on the internet for the FIRST time today. He starts talking about how I obviously am in my own little world and can only survive on my own little thing JUST BECAUSE I WAS LAUGING. What can I say? If something's funny I LAUGH. GO FREAKING FIGURE. Meanwhile, he's doing ALL of this while he's FREAKING OUT ABOUT HIS OWN STUPID, NOT IN THE REAL WORLD SPORTS. I thouht they'd gotten beyond this. Who's in their own little world? Who's acting like a child? Who DOESN'T FREAKING CARE ABOUT ANYTHING BUT THEMSELVES?!

Guess I just won't come down next time.