I only hope the world finds God again before it's too late.

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.

My confession:

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are, Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, "Merry Christmas" to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an exploicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: Where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that's a sign I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the "Early Show" and Jane Clayson asked her, "How could God let something like this happen?" (regarding Hurricane Katrina)... Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, "I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives.. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing & protection if we demand He leave us alone?"

In light of recent events...terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeliene Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves...

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with "WE REAP WHAT WE SOW."

*I had read that today, and I thought I'd pass it on via my blog. I'm not sure who all reads my blog, but for those who do, I hope it got them thinking. I admit this is a topic I am quite passionate about, and sometimes get quite upset about this. I just think that there are so many people out there who are just so ignorant to what they do and what they say, and they try to blame it on religion. Have we seriously forgotten why we have America in the first place? We came to escape the burdens of having religion forced upon us. We came so that we could make our own decision on what to believe, when to believe it, and where we wanted. Our country was founded upon those ideals... And they're slowly being torn apart.

I believe in God. I believe He wants the best for myself, for my family, and for my friends. I believe He loves me. and despite what I consider stupid actions from sometimes stupid people, He loves them too. I hope that this gets you thinking, and I hope you remember God. He gave you everything you have.

Just Dance!

So my sister's dance team was supposed to perform at the UTAH FLASH Basketball game last night, but didn't have the opportunity to do so, due to a rumor that Michael Jordan was going to play a little one on one with Bryon Russell. Both former NBA players. The seats were packed! The speakers were too loud, it stunk like junk food that you can only find at sporting events, and there were even games behind the bleachers for kids to play if they got restless. What a night!

Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. First because my sister & her team didn't get to perform at half time. Rather, they had to run in in-between time outs to do a 15--20 second skit of a dance. Second, we had 10 minutes of "dead-air" after the five minutes of "B. Russ" standing in the middle of the court "waiting" for MJ to show face on the court. Guess what though? MJ didn't show up. Why would he? I mean, yes it would have been exciting for him to show up, but he didn't. and quite honestly I laugh at those who came to the game Just to see him. I mean, don't get me wrong, I was excited to see if he'd show, but I wasn't holding my breath. As for those who were...HA HA HA!!

After getting home, we sat amongst ourselves enjoying a cup of homemade Egg Nog ice cream, and talking about the game. We didn't think it'd get any news publicity. But it did! http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=8955144 The Flash owner even posted an explanation of sorts on his blog, and left it open for comments! Props to him for that. I don't think I could ever do that, let alone respond to all those negative comments.

In the end, it was a pretty good night. I got to spend a few hours with my family, and my two most adorable nieces. Had homemade egg nog ice cream, and still got to bed at a decent hour (I love my sleep). And Trent brought me flowers before heading down to orem. :-) Brownie points for him.

Thank you all for a good night! :-)