The Woes of this world...the comforts from the Holy Spirit.

This is one of my favorite portraits of our Lord by Darrel Tank. Someone named Lana made it into this Scripture tag which I thought was perfect for Lent.

The Christian man in Afghanistan has asked for asylum in the world from his persecutors and I pray he will receive it. Surely a country with a safe haven will take him in. It will be impossible for him to continue to live in his own country now. I wonder if we still have a safe haven.

Right now the US Senate has been paring down the House Immigration bill. Over the weekend, officials were surprised at how large the demonstrations were against this measure. In Los Angeles alone there were a half million people in the streets. There were marches in tiny farm communities around where I live, since many illegal immigrants come here to work in the fields as migrant workers.

There is a lot of confrontational material in this bill as to who we are as US citizens. We have to examine our own conscience. The building of walls along our southern border is a really hostile act and if it were Canada doing it, we would be so offended. Our border states are asking for this more than any others. Actually, Canada is turning Americans away at there border if they do not have a certain amount of cash plus specific places to visit.

In these times of terror, I can understand as citizens that we need to know who is entering our country, (is that really possible?) Also we, as a government, are going broke so how can we afford 12 million illegal immigrants? Granted, not all are trying to get on the public dole. My dad's family came here when this country was a colony, but my mom's family came during the Irish potato famine and the edge of that immigration has always laced my upbringing as an American, one was to never take my citizenship for granted.

Personnally, as a Christian, I am thankful that the Senate threw out the part where any caregivers caught helping illegal aliens would be prosecuted as felons. This is so anti-Christian, it goes against everything in the Bible and most of the major religions of the world. The bill came from the House, the same place that gutted the Endangered Species Act and most of our environmental protections, so what can we expect.

A beautiful quote came to me through my email yesterday. I printed it out to keep over my computer and want to share it here.

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind...

Romans 12:2