Just Wilted

Yeah, yeah, yeah...I'm complaining about the summer heat. I HATE SUMMER HEAT!!! And no, I DON'T stay in the kitchen in the summer~~I DO get out of it until about fall!! I hibernate to the best of my ability. I'm indoors doing inside things. The longest you'll see me outdoors in the summer is to walk across the parking lot.

We are experiencing a dreadfully hot 2011 summer. It's only July 21, and we've had over three straight weeks of over 100-degree temperatures, and this has been by far the hottest summer since about 1981 or 1982. I wilted then, I'm wilted now. :P For the last couple of days, the weather people have been talking about the largest "heat dome" we've had in a loooong time. Even the people NORTH of me, near CANADA, are even hotter than we Texans are at the moment! :O I'm not taking the time to investigate those kinds of records...that would be even more depressing to me. I do pray they have the means to get cool. Those poor people are not used to this kind of weather. :(

Another thing that greatly upsets me and many people during this hot weather is that sometimes we don't think about our pets, children and elderly. I've seen each shut in hot vehicles, often with devastating results. Not only is this disgraceful, but this is very costly carelessness. Babies and pets have literally died because the driver was "only going to be gone a minute." Even with windows rolled down, the vehicles just get too blamed hot for survival. Check on your elderly neighbors and friends. Sometimes they're not able to think about turning on the air when they truly need it.

However, some people thrive under these circumstances. My best friend is one of them. She can't stand the cold (and it can get pretty cold in our part of Texas) and hurries summer along. Me? I'm revelling in the cold because I know that, aaaall too soon, whatever cold we experience will end.
It's been said that Texas weather is either hot, hotter, hotter than hades, and oh...with only a couple of weeks of real cold, and that doesn't last too long because within 48 hours, most snow we might experience goes away. Thankfully, so does the ice (which we get more of than snow WHEN it gets cold enough). (as a side note, though, I TOTALLY enjoyed last winter!!!! :D anyone who knows me knows this, lol) My T13 claims to love being out in this heat. Only for this reason do my husband and I question that he's really our son. :P

Some of my summer buddies crave a reason to go swimming. Unfortunately, this year the pools have been too hot to enjoy. :( Even ice cream and snow cone sales are stagnant because that means people need to leave their homes to go get them.

Okay, okay, so what are the pluses for summer? You can save on oven heat by cooking on the grill...or the sidewalk. You can save on your dryer bill if you hang your laundry out to dry...prob'ly be dry in less time it takes you to put it up! :O You can do that sun-tea business that was so popular back in the 80's. Put the water out in the sun in the morning, and I'm sure you'll have perfectly brewed, strong tea by lunchtime. Your bath temperture will probably be perfect.
You can also.....
Well, there's......
And then there's......
Well, I'm sure my summer-lovin' fun folks can fill in the blanks better than me. ;}

What brought me to writing this blog entry is that Salvador Dali came up in conversation. If you're not familiar with his name, I'm sure you'll recognize his work called The Persistence of Memory. Well, I think he must've experienced an even hotter summer then than we do now. Why else would he be so inspired to paint this?? ;)











We humans don't stand a prayer, do we? lol

Disclaimer:
(Yes, for the serious artists and art students reading this blog, I'm well aware that there is a far deeper and independent meaning than my immediately flippant observation of art according to circumstances.)

An Admittedly Odd View of Casey Anthony Trial

First, I want to say that Caylee Anthony is in a better place, feeling no fear, pain or sorrow. She has been in the arms of Jesus these 3 years since she was killed, allegedly by her mother, Casey Anthony.

On July 5th, 1:15 PM EST, Casey Anthony received an acquittal for Caylee's death. This stunned many Americans who diligently watched this trial unfold. I was not one of the watchers but read commentary throughout the trial from time to time.

Even I am convinced of her guilt. So why and how on earth did she receive an acquittal from the jury?? If there is one thing I've learned since becoming a born-again, Bible-believing Christian, it is indeed that God has "unconventional" ways of doing things and intervening on behalf of human life's issues.

By many accounts, Casey is as guilty as sin of killing her darling little girl who has captured the hearts of so many people. The first unforgivable rule of a mother broken by Casey is the delay in reporting her daughter missing! MOST of us mothers would report our child/ren missing within MINUTES (if we could!), and definitely within HOURS, of discovering that our child is missing! :O But yet, she was merely a "negligent" mother because it took her 31 days to report her. I'm sorry, I admit that I can't seem to get past that one fact alone.

The rest of the evidence presented in the case was basically ruled "circumstantial", including HER OWN CAR smelling horrible, like a dead body was there. How do you get PAST that?? I don't recall anyone suggesting that someone "borrowed" her car and returned it to her smelling bad. I guess trash bags are too generic? Duct tape found on the toddler is a generic, "normal" thing to find on a dead child? Most people can forgive an accident, but this is purely murder.

Unfortunately, her "lot" in life seems to be that of a liar and a sociopath, as well as (allegedly) a murderess. Her credibility with the public has become nil, void, zero, nada, zip before she even got started with this trial, now most of the world hates her. Why a mother would lie to law enforcement who are trying to help her "find her child" is beyond my comprehension. I hope this was panic mode speaking, but I'm afraid I don't believe that's the case here.

What caused the jury to acquit her? There are a few technical reasons that have been presented over the last few hours and days (after the shock kind of wore off, that is). The defense celebrates a victory because they did such a "great job" countering evidence with lies that happened to be believed by the jurors. The prosecution did not do an adequate job in either submitting the evidence or the how behind them. The defense encouraged Casey to appear in the trial as a dowdy, frumpy "poor little me" victim. Somehow the evidence presented in the trial became merely circumstantial, rather than proven physical ties to the defendant.

No matter, though. One of the main reasons I didn't pay such close attention to the trial is because it truly doesn't matter what verdict she would receive. Either she would experience life sentence or death row; or she would be free, but her freedom would become costly.

Think of Cain in the Bible. After killing his brother Abel, he "walked." Granted, jails and prisons did not abound then, but upon reading his sentence, he probably wished he was in jail or prison. After all, Cain received a mark as a warning to other men not to kill him. He may have been free but he was never free from the judgment he received for killing his own brother.

Think of David, who killed a man so that he could marry his wife. He was a man of God, but he committed some horrible sins! He may not have been physically imprisoned, but the weight of those sins nearly crushed him. Read through Psalms...read his conversations between God and himself!

Think of Judas Iscariot, the DISCIPLE who betrayed Jesus! True, he didn't actually kiiiiill Jesus, but he might as well have! He was a man who knew what he was doing all along, but it wasn't until later before the true impact of what he had done set in. We do not read of him being buried in a dungeon, prison or jail somewhere, but he hung himself trying to free himself of that tormenting guilt. Jesus would've forgiven him if he had let Him. Jesus knew what he was going to do before he did it.

Think of the thief who hung on a cross with Jesus. Yes, both he and another thief were crucified with Jesus. One did not understand why Jesus would not free himself physically from the crucifixion (and free him, too!). The other, however, knew who Jesus was and correctly answered that Jesus did no wrong, and yet he is being crucified. He knew the magnitude of his own sins (who did wrong) and asked Jesus to remember him. Jesus said that he could join him in Paradise.
Think of Saul/Paul, who killed Christians under orders. Jesus met him and asked him on the Road to Damascus, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" Saul had no idea that he was not "just" killing a people who opposed the religious order of the day, but he was hurting (persecuting) Jesus with each and every follower he killed. Jesus transformed him into one of the greatest apostles of the Bible. He truly had much to overcome in order to convince those very Christians that he has become one of them.

Jesus died so that we can be set free of our sins. Jesus paid the price of death with his own blood so that we can live without the wrath of God and instead live an eternal life. Jesus was made sin so that we can be made righteous. Jesus became poor so that we can be blessed and to bless others.

Sin is sin is sin. We have a tendency to put sin on a sliding scale, but the Bible is clear that God views sin the same way. We have all sinned to some degree or another. But yet God's grace and mercy abounds more than sin. Most of us have already pronounced sentence upon Casey Anthony, believing that she is guilty of murdering her darling little girl and deserving of death. Jesus tells in a passage that anyone who harms one of His little ones would be better off with a millstone tied around his neck and tossed into the sea. Obviously, something happened to prevent her from human juror conviction. Does that mean that they messed up? I don't think that's necessarily true. But for now, the trial is out of any one's hands...what's done is done.

From what I can see, God has a different judgment in mind for her. IF she is indeed innocent of killing Caylee, then the truth will eventually prevail, although it may be too late for her to be personally vindicated. IF she is indeed guilty of killing Caylee, she will not have a free walk in life...she will eventually pay for the murder. The ostracization will become overwhelming unless she can somehow renew her life (think of Cain). God will either let her be destroyed by other means (Judas), or God may have mercy on her and give her a new reason to live (Saul/Paul). Even if she is doomed to a sentence she must endure, she can still receive forgiveness from God. (thief on the cross)
God is not slack concerning his promises as men count slackness.
We are told in Psalm 37:1-2 (and Prov24:19):
Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.
For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.
Casey may be free, but she has a long, potentially lonely road ahead of her. I do pray that she may one day come to repentance and salvation, if she hasn't already. Jesus sent the Comforter, who is ready to care for her and be by her side every step of her new life. Once He is in her life, she will never be left or forsaken, and it will not matter what man would attempt to do to her in order to seek justice for the murder of precious Caylee Anthony.