On a recent trip to Barnes & Noble with my beautiful Flutterby friend and her new creation, I picked up a very interesting book. (On sale, of course)
100 Things You're not Supposed to Know.
Included therein:

100
God's Name is "Jealous"

There's an old joke that says God's name is Harold, as in "Our Father, who are in Heaven, Harold be thy name..."

The strange thing is, that's not to much off the mark, only the truth is even weirder. The Lord does indeed have a name, kind of like Andrew or Beth or Jose.

It's right there in the Bible, at Exodus 34:13. Moses has trudged up Mount Sinai with a second pair of stone tablets, on which God will write the Ten Commandments. Moses and the Big G engage in some repartee, then God says:

"For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God"

This is straight out of the King James Version, God reveals "his" own name: Jealous.

In the original Hebrew, the key words in this verse are shem and qanna: According to one of the standard reference works in this area - A Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Hebrew Bible by James Strongs - shem is a noun meaning "name". One of its specific denotations is "the Name (as designation of God)." The word qanna means "jealous" and is applied only to God.

Other English translations say the same basic thing as the King James Version. The New International Version gives it as: "Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God." The English Standard Version phrases it parenthetically: "(for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God)." The New International Readers Version gives God a more relaxed feel: "Do not worship any other god. I am a jealous God. In fact, my name is Jealous."

Why isn't this mentioned in Sunday school? Perhaps because it could lead to children pledging, "one nation under Jealous," people cursing, "Jealous damn it!" or the government stamping on currencey: "In Jealous we trust."

But if you're going to accept the Bible, then you have to accept it when God reveals his own name, no matter how odd or silly.

My Jealous have mercy on my soul.

Squint your eyes and look closer
I'm not between you and your ambition
I am a poster girl with no poster
I am thirty-two flavors and then some
And i'm beyond your peripheral vision
So you might want to turn your head
Cause someday you're going to get hungry
And eat most of the words you just said

Both my parents taught me about good will
And i have done well by their names
Just the kindness i've lavished on strangers
Is more than i can explain
Still there's many who've turned out their porch lights
Just so i would think they were not home
And hid in the dark of their windows
Til i'd passed and left them alone

And god help you if you are an ugly girl
Course too pretty is also your doom
Cause everyone harbors a secret hatred
For the prettiest girl in the room
And god help you if you are a pheonix
And you dare to rise up from the ash
A thousand eyes will smolder with jealousy
While you are just flying back

I'm not trying to give my life meaning
By demeaning you
And i would like to state for the record
I did everything that i could do
I'm not saying that i'm a saint
I just don't want to live that way
No, i will never be a saint
But i will always say

Squint your eyes and look closer
I'm not between you and your ambition
I am a poster girl with no poster
I am thirty-two flavors and then some
And i'm beyond your peripheral vision
So you might want to turn your head
Cause someday you might find you're starving
And eating all of the words you said


Ani DiFranco

The Heart of Life

I hate to see you cry
lieing there in that postition
there's things you need to hear
so turn off your tears
and listen
pain throws your heart to the ground
love turns the whole thing around
No it won't all go the way it should
but I know the heart of life is good

You know it's nothing new
bad news never had good timing
there the circle of your friends
will defend the silver lining

pain throws your heart to the ground
love turns the whole thing around
no it won't all go the way it should
but i know the heart of life is good

pain throws your heart to the ground
love turns the whole thing around
fear is a friend who's misunderstood
but i know the heart of life is good
i know it's good


John Mayer

I Don’t Trust Myself

No I'm not the man I used to be lately
See you met me at an interesting time
And if my past is any sign of your future
You should be warned before I let you inside

Hold on to whatever you find baby
Hold on to whatever will get you through
Hold on to whatever you find baby
I don't trust myself with loving you

I will beg my way into your garden
Then I'll break my way out when it rains
Just to get back to the place where I started
So I can want you back all over again

Hold on to whatever you find baby
Hold on to whatever will get you through
Hold on to whatever you find baby
I don't trust myself with loving you

Who do you love?
Girl I see through, through you love
Who do you love?
Who do you love me or the thought of me? me or the thought of me?

Hold on to whatever you find baby
Hold on to whatever will get you through
Hold on to whatever you find baby
I don't trust myself with loving you

Hold on to whatever you find baby
Hold on to whatever gets you through through
Hold on to whatever you find baby
I don't trust myself with loving you

An atheist professor of philosophy speaks to his class on the problem science has with God, The Almighty. He asks one of his new students to stand and.....
Prof: So you believe in God?
Student: Absolutely, sir.
Prof: Is God good?
Student: Sure.
Prof: Is God all-powerful?
Student: Yes.
Prof: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to God to heal him.
Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But God didn't.
How is this God good then? Hmm?
(Student is silent.)
Prof: You can't answer, can you? Let's start again, young fella. Is God
good?
Student: Yes.
Prof: Is Satan good?
Student: No.
Prof: Where does Satan come from?
Student: From...God...
Prof: That's right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?
Student: Yes.
Prof: Evil is everywhere, isn't it? And God did make everything. Correct?
Student: Yes.
Prof: So who created evil?
(Student does not answer.)
Prof: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don't they?
Student: Yes, sir.
Prof: So, who created them?
(Student has no answer.)
Prof: Science says you have 5 senses you use to identify and observe the
world around you. Tell me, son...Have you ever seen God?
Student: No, sir.
Prof: Tell us if you have ever heard your God?
Student:No, sir.
Prof: Have you ever felt your God, tasted your God, smelt your God? Have
you ever had any sensory perception of God for that matter?
Student: No, sir. I'm afraid I haven't.
Prof: Yet you still believe in Him?
Student: Yes.
Prof: According to empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your GOD doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son?
Student: Nothing. I only have my faith.
Prof: Yes. Faith. And that is the problem science has.
Student: Professor, is there such a thing as heat?
Prof: Yes.
Student: And is there such a thing as cold?
Prof: Yes.
Student: No sir. There isn't.
(The lecture theatre becomes very quiet with this turn of events.)
Student: Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega
heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don't have anything called cold. We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can't go any further after that.
There is no such thing as cold . Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of
heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy . Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it .
(There is pin-drop silence in the lecture theatre.)
Student: What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?
Prof: Yes. What is night if there isn't darkness?
Student: You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light....But if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and it's called darkness, isn't it? In reality, darkness isn't. If it were you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn't you?
Prof: So what is the point you are making, young man?
Student: Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.
Prof: Flawed? Can you explain how?
Student: Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is death, a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can't even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one.To view death as theopposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it. Now tell me, Professor.Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?
Prof: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do.
Student: Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?
(The Professor shakes his head with a smile, beginning to realize
where the argument is going.)
Student: Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you not a scientist but a preacher?
(The class is in uproar.)
Student: Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor's brain?
(The class breaks out into laughter.)
Student: Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor's brain, felt it, touched or smelt it? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain,sir. With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir?
(The room is silent. The professor stares at the student, his face unfathomable.)
Prof: I guess you'll have to take them on faith, son.
Student: That is it sir... The link between man & god is FAITH . That is all that keeps things moving & alive.


I believe you have enjoyed the conversation...and if so...you'll probably want your friends/colleagues to enjoy the same...won't you?.... this is a true story, and the student was none other than.........

APJ Abdul Kalam ,
The former president of India.

My birthday was last Tuesday. I got a mortar and pestle from E who knew I had been looking for one. Then he came over and cooked us dinner and did all the dishes. :) He's so good.

The happiest of holidays to one and all. Here is the snowman Z and I constructed when the snow finally would be packed. Note the unitentional addition of snowman anatomy. :) Z put 3 carrots for buttons on his chest and one didn't stick too well. 
The solstice was celebrated on Friday night. It was a really nice evening. We took time to impart what we believe to Z, which confused him, I think. It certainly is hard to be different. It's something some parents would save their kids from if they could, but we believe differently from everyone around us (especially everyone who Z comes into contact with the most) and I can't go along with what everyone else thinks just because it might save him from being different. He's four, also, so it's going to take some time for these abstract ideas to become a little more tangilbe. It was the first time that we've celebrated that E's been with us and it solidified the feeling of being a family once again.
It has been stressful. Of course, that's what this time of year has become. I know what to expect when I celebrate Christmas with my family. I'd rather not get anything at all if the quality of time together is strained. This year is extra stressful because my parents just bought a house and have been moving in little by little.
We got our tree. For myself, who celebrates Mother Nature and her constant gifts to us, it's conflicting to kill a tree to bring it inside to put lights on it. But I like the idea of bringing light at this time of darkness and having a piece of nature in the house. A friend has suggested (for the second year in a row) that I get a potted tree. I think that'll be the course of action next year. It just makes more sense.
I've been finishing up my classes and working for the studio as well and now I'm sick. I understand why but it still is frustrating. At least it will be out of my system before I start teaching. That might be contibuting to the stress because I'm nervous about starting to teach my own classes. Excited but very nervous.
Ultimately, I'm looking forward to giving the gifts I've prepared to people. I really like that part of this time of year and it is exciting for me. The giving is so much more important than the getting and I tried my best to think of the person and who they are when I picked stuff out.
I get to enjoy my son's company without school for over a week. :)
I'm going to go play. Take care.

A couple weeks ago as I was leaving the house I spied a ladybug crawling on my kitchen window. It was toward the end of November and I thought it very peculiar, but fortunate, as they are good plant bugs. About a week later I found it again, this time on its back in a dirty glass in my sink, stuggling. I freed it, putting it on the counter to dry itself off. I didn't see it again until a couple days ago when I found it crawling on an empty water bottle I had sitting on my counter. I am very pleased that it survived. It's December now. I wonder how long it will live.

Here is a conch and a crab fighting for a piece of scallop my love threw into his tank on thanksgiving while he was cooking appetizers. He made venison he got from a woman he works with, asparigus, brussel sprouts, potatos, candied yams, and the jellied cranberry sauce I insisted on. It was a very good meal. Different from what the family I grew up with might have made, but tastey nonetheless. I made peach and apple pie. I like making things from scratch, but crust is hard! I didn't get to have any peach pie, which was my first time trying. Apparently it was good though, because I heard lots of positive talk from the in laws. The apple pie was very good, nothing spectacular, but it went down easy. :)