IMMIGRANTS ON MAY 1ST. First of May is Shopping Day! Illegal immigrants are planning a nationwide boycott of all goods and services on Monday, May 1st. They have marched in our streets and demanded rights as a reward for breaking our country's law. They hope to show that they have an impact on our economy, they hope to hurt American business, they hope to emotionally and economically blackmail us into submission. So what can we do? All Americans who support LEGAL immigration but demand that all immigrants RESPECT our law are asked to act on May 1st. Wear RED or BLUE that day (They will be wearing white), and go SHOPPING. If you have to grocery shop, make it May 1st. Need gas in your car? Fill it up May 1st. Buy Mother's Day gifts, buy summer clothes, buy whatever you need, but BUY THAT DAY. Have a prescription filled. Buy more flowers, plants for your garden. Anything, but make your presence in red or blue and spend your dollars on Monday rather than waiting until the rest of the week. American citizens outnumber illegal immigrants, and we MUST make ourselves heard. Wear red or blue to show your pride in your country, and your opposition to weak border and amnesty legislation. And GO SHOPPING! Let's make May 1st a day to remember, and remind Congress that the illegal immigrants they cower before can't vote. We can. And we will. First of May is Shopping Day! Forward this to everyone on your email list, at work, at school, your friends, your family. We CAN make ourselves heard. We CAN remind the politicians that WE are the ones that put them in office, and that it's OUR tax dollars they're squandering. Pass the word along and make your voice heard! To read more on what the Illegal Immigrants plan to do on May 1st. Go to...http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/  

This is an incredible short interview with Rick Warren, "Purpose Driven Life" author and pastor of Saddleback Church in California. In the interview by Paul Bradshaw, Rick said:
People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven. One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me.
I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal.
God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity. We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense.
Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one.
The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort.
God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.
This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer.
I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore.
Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life. No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for.
You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems. If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, which is "my problem, my issues, my pain." But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.
We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her. It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.
You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life.
Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy.
It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease.
So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72.
First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases.
Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church.
Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation.
Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.
We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions?
Popularity? Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness?
Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?
When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, "God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better." God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list.
He's more interested in what I am than what I do. That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.
Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.
Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.
Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.
Painful moments, TRUST GOD.
Every moment, THANK GOD. 

I thought this was too funny....

  

Mandisa off of American Idol

Ok, I was really shocked by this one. I have been in support of Mandisa from the beginning. She is a Christian, and she is big and beautiful. I have always voted for her, even though Chris is my favorite. (I voted for both) I have always felt the body of Christ has to stick together.
When she was elimintated, there was a weird silence and something strange going on in the audience....what the heck happened? I have heard some rumors about racial slurs, but have not yet found out what really happened.
I found out via an internet search, that Mandisa was likely voted off for being Christian and having her personal idol be Christian author Beth Moore, who is also my personal choice for my american idol.
Beth Moore was quoted as being "lecturer and anti-gay author" instead of "Christian author." I see that now being a Christian is the same thing as being "anti-gay."
I suppose we could go around calling pro choicers, anti-lifers, or calling those who aren't Christian, "anti-christian, or anti-god, or anti-morals".
But, we, as Christians, would likely be crucifed for saying things like that.
Anyhow, I guess I am just really irritated that someone would be voted off of Idol for their religious beliefs.

Lung Cancer Hits Young, Non-Smoking Women

By ANDREA CANNING

Aug. 6, 2005 — In her West Bloomfield, Mich., home, Lisa Roffman wiped away tears as she read from a journal she keeps for her 9-year-old daughter, Leah.

"You are a special gift to the world," Roffman read. "You will always be alright. I love you so much. Love, Mommy."

At 44 years young, Roffman is preparing to die.

"There's a limited time period," she said. "There's a sadness and an urgency."

Two-and-a-half years ago, Roffman, a non-smoker, was diagnosed with lung cancer and given less than five years to live.

"It was a complete and total shock," she said. "I certainly thought that it was going to be people who had smoked their whole lives. I always thought it was more men than women. I thought they were people who were 60 or older."

As the number of men with lung cancer declines, the American Cancer Society estimates that 73,020 women will die in the United States of lung cancer this year, more than those who will die from breast, ovarian and uterine cancers combined.


Ill Despite Healthy Lifestyle

While no national studies have yet been done, many lung cancer specialists say they're seeing a disturbing trend of more and more non-smoking women with the disease.

"Many of them have done an excellent job of taking care of themselves," said Dr. Joan Schiller, who specializes in lung cancer in non-smoking younger women at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. "They run. They eat right."

Ten percent to 15 percent of lung cancer victims are non-smokers. Among that group, women are two to three times more likely than men to get the disease. Doctors don't know why. Hormones, second-hand smoke, diet and air pollution all are believed to be factors.

Though lung cancer is deadlier to women than other types of cancer, breast cancer gets almost 10 times more research funding per death than lung cancer, Schiller said.

"These women are tragic victims of the fact that they have a disease that is associated with smoking," Schiller added.

Adding to the deadliness of lung cancer, the symptoms, which include shortness of breath and a chronic cough, often are misdiagnosed as asthma.

New Hope in Study, Drugs

Lately though, there is some hope.

In a search for answers, the National Cancer Institute has funded a grant to the Southwest Oncology Group, a cooperative research group of 283 institutions, to look at gender differences in smokers versus non-smokers with lung cancer. In what will be the largest study of its kind, researchers will look at tumor tissue and healthy tissue from men and women, smokers and non-smokers.

And in the more immediate term, doctors say non-smoking younger women are responding better than others to two new drugs — iressa and tarceva.

"There are certainly people whose cancer has gone away for years," Schiller said. "Will it last? We don't know.''

Iressa has stalled Roffman's cancer.

Tarceva is wiping out some tumors in Debbie Verhines of Saline, Mich.

"Oh, my gosh: I feel like it's given me my life back," Verhines said. "Yeah, it's a miracle drug."

Contemplating Life and Death

Verhines believes that aside from the drugs, conquering the disease is all in the attitude. As a show of strength she took off her wig.

"A lot of people haven't seen me bald," she said. "Hey, I can relate to people who are going through this. You can either have a happy illness or a sad illness, and I am going to have a happy illness."

The Roffmans understand that one day soon, Lisa may die. Her husband, Barry, contemplates life without her.

"I don't want to go in that room," he said. "I go right to the door and I don't open it. I just turn around and run the other way."

Every second is cherished as though it is the last. Lisa's daughter, Leah, prepares for her mom's death as the two share a kiss.

"Her soul and her spirit will always be with me," Leah said. "And her love."

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/Health/story?id=1014929&page=1