Wine Reviews Ratings

posted by admin on Aug 22

I recently wrote about cavemen sitting around the campfire and drafting the Bible’s books of Genesis and Revelation. In surfing around this evening, I came across this editorial concerning health care in America, on the Investor’s Business Daily website by David Ridenour, Vice President of the National Center for Public Policy Research.

I don’t normally read this kind of thing, yet oddly enough I read this one. What I discovered is that one of the most prescient minds in Washington D.C., and America in general was published just one week ago today saying something I have been saying to people for years! His basic take on this is an economic one, whereas I came by my own conclusions using good, ol’ fashioned common sense.

The premise of his editorial is that frivolous lawsuits drawing excessive damages are the primary factor in the rising cost and overall decline in quality of health care in America. Then he goes on to point out that in California and Texas, where laws have been established working to cap health-related lawsuit damages, the overall quality of health care is increasing, doctors are flocking to these states in droves, and insurance costs are going down.

Well, duh!

As long as I can remember, I have heard the all too frequent stories in the news about some individual or family being awarded some ridiculous amount of cash in a lawsuit against a hospital or a doctor who performed in some kind of negligent manner. As a country bumpkin, raised in the sticks of rural Florida, those numbers were simply outlandish… after all, all that money ain’t gonna’ bring ‘em back or make ‘em well! The only thing it does is drive up costs, and drive out doctors. As I’ve gotten older (not grown up), I’ve felt first-hand the sting of paying health-insurance premiums on a meager, blue-collar salary. It sucks!

The problem always seemed to me to be caused by people chasing numbers, instead of real things. Sure, it’s nice to have plenty of money (at least it seems that way from what I can tell). Even so, money only buys so much. When the focus of a person’s life is money, all they can ever see are those numbers… filling their thoughts, their dreams, and ultimately their destinies. They lose sight of the intangibles of life… like a happy household, haul-you-out-of-the-ditch friends, Sunday Supper, and connectedness with life, the universe, and everything. They forget that faith, spirituality, and love go a long way.

An evening on a dew-covered hill, drinking cheap wine out of a Dixie Cup, warming yourself by the campfire as you struggle to make out the tune playing out of your friend’s car doors over the chirping crickets… those kinds of moments are irreplaceable. And they having nothing at all to do with the dew, the wine, the campfire or the crickets – it’s the intangible factor.

As David pointed out, “Sadly, in real life, our well-being often resides outside of emergency rooms,” and went on to explain that it moves into a courtroom. I would do him one better and say that our wellbeing resides even further away than that… away from any kind of atmosphere governed by numbers.

posted by admin on Aug 13

Feeling. It might only be one of the five senses, but it has many more allusions than simply sense. Take Frankie, the child abused emotionally by her mother. 

She learns early that life can be pretty awful, and the abuse has a way of following her… to school, with her so-called friends, and later in life, with her partner. Feelings. Feelings and attributions of abuse and neglect… ends up that Frankie becomes a binge drinker and a more than occasional drug user, especially when the chips are down.

Alcohol and drugs are rampant in our running away society.

It’s like this the world over, though many of us have not been so abused and neglected. Yet, we feel. And when we feel horrible we want to do something about it to ‘fix’ the situation. Then we take a drug.

In the biblical wisdom tradition King Lemuel’s mother taught him:

“It is not for kings, O Lemuel-
not for kings to drink wine,
not for rulers to crave beer,

lest they drink and forget what the law decrees,
and deprive all the oppressed of their rights.

Give beer to those who are perishing,
wine to those who are in anguish;

let them drink and forget their poverty
and remember their misery no more.”
-Proverbs 31:4-7 (NIV).

I believe this biblical passage above is saying those who drink and drug to inebriation are doing such because they’re hopeless, miserable, perishing, poor, and in anguish that’s quite simply, inescapable. They are the equivalent of the procrastinator who can’t see the liberation they’ll get from actually doing the tasks they’re avoiding.

Everyone has pain to deal with; even those who’ve never been abused or neglected. We’re all maladjusted to life in some form or other.

Turning over the biblical passage again, we find we might not be rulers or kings–not having their responsibilities of rule, but we do have hope. If we’ve been forgiven we have hope. And there is one reason (amongst the many) why we’ve been forgiven–it is so we can truly feel how God has designed us to feel. To ‘feel real.’ 

To drink or take drugs or overeat is to escape the painful existence our lives have become. No longer do I need to mask my pain with drink, food or a drug.  People who drink, eat wrongly or take drugs are often masking their emotions, escaping them, and are not living in truth.  They do it because they’re not blessed with the union of God in the reconciliation of their feelings–they are in a sense, unforgiven–they haven’t forgiven themselves, let alone let God do it. 

There is a way out of course.  The God of truth is also the God of love and forgiveness.  He can help us be true to our pain, and help us cope with the rawness of it, without substances to mask the pain.

God wants to forgive us; in fact, he sent his Son to die on the cross–his very act of forgiveness and grace towards us. All we need to do is recognise where we’ve gone wrong, and turn back to him. We express faith in this, trusting him, believing he will do for us things we couldn’t do for ourselves. We acknowledge that life was not meant to be lived estranged to God.

Do you want to feel real? Have you been forgiven? If you answered “yes” to the first question but “no” to the second question, you could Google the “believer’s prayer.” This prayer has three components. It should only be prayed if we genuinely want to say sorry to God, ask his forgiveness (which he will give) and commit to walking with him from now on. It’s advised to do this with a trusted and knowledgeable God believer to assist you.

The inevitable result usually is… suddenly, with the wind of the Holy Spirit beneath your wings, you will have the strength to try this naturally aspirated life of living real i.e. without the crutch. You will learn the ability of honesty with yourself and with others. This is what programs like AA and NA major on–honesty. (We all have the propensity to be dishonest.) You will, perhaps for the first time, be able to live in truth without being crippled by fear.

Copyright © 2009, S. J. Wickham.  All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

posted by admin on Aug 1

As the political races heat up, we’re going to hear a lot. Some will be true, some false. All will be costly, for TV, billboards and direct (full-color) mail, cost a bundle. Why would politicians spend all that money on claims that may not be factual? I get a date wrong in the bulletin and someone quickly corrects me!

Politicians believe appearance is reality. If someone looks bad, they must be bad. You may have heard it put his way, “Perception is reality.”
If only that were true. If only we could tell each other that we’re good, we’re whole, we’ve earned our way into God’s grace and favor and have a lock on heaven tighter than the lock the Yankees have on their divisional title. But that’s not what the Bible says, is it? Today’s text tells us of
Hollow Men Made Whole

1.Man’s appearance may be fake.

2.God’s worship makes us real.

While the Northern Kingdom, Israel, had been going to damnation in a hand basket led by their calf-worshipping king, Jeroboam, things had not been going well in the Southern Kingdom, Judah, either. Instead of hearing God’s Word and worshipping the Lord in the Temple, “the people set up for themselves high places, sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree. There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land; the people engaged in all the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites (23-24).”
They refused to worship in the Temple. They did their own thing. Set up their own “churches” in parks to worship the filthy nature gods of the Canaanites, the very people the Lord had driven out for their filthy religion.

The Lord soon acted. “In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. He carried off the treasures of the temple of the Lord and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including the gold shields Solomon had made. So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned these to the commanders of the guard on duty at the entrance to the royal palace. Whenever the king went to the Lord’s temple, the guards bore the shields, and afterward they returned them to the guardroom (25-28).”

What’s going on here? Appearance seems to indicate that everything is good. The people are busy with their religious life. Oh, they aren’t worshiping the Lord in truth and purity in the way the Lord said he should be worshiped, but at least their worshiping God–that’s what really matters. Well, to be honest, they aren’t even worshiping God, they are worshiping false gods that will lead them into heartache and heartbreak here on earth and eternal damnation in the world to come, but at least their worshiping, and that’s the important thing, isn’t it?

Yes, there was that minor set-back of the King of Egypt cleaning out the land of all its treasures, but things are back to normal now, aren’t they? See how richly King Rehoboam worships the Lord, attended by 200 shield bearers carrying those bronze ceremonial shields whenever he goes into the Temple. Everybody can be assured things are going great. But never mind that those bronze shields were the replacements for Solomon’s gold shields which he left simply hanging on the walls of his palace. The King of Egypt took those away and even now, the peace is so uncertain that Rehoboam is afraid some other king will attack, defeat and plunder him so he has even those cheap bronze shields safely stored away in the guardhouse. He only uses them for public show when he goes to church.

How are things with most Americans? From appearances, I’d say things are OK with them these days, they got a new job, got a new office, got a new wife, got a new life and the family’s fine! I’ve lost touch, long ago. They’ve lost weight, I did not know. Who’da thought that you’d look so nice after all this time!

Then why all the pessimism about the economy? Why the fear of terrorism’s shadow? Why all the pills? And the increasing levels of personal debt to fund consumption? And at least the kids are going to church, well, not our church, but a church that says you shouldn’t baptize babies because they can’t make a decision for Christ, or a church that says Jesus doesn’t give us his true body and blood in the Lord’s Supper. But they’ve got a good band and you know, they have so many new pastors and there’s so many people there that you can do whatever you want and nobody will even know how you are living and nobody will even miss you when you are gone, because nobody knows your name.

I see a lot of hollow people in Green Valley trying to fill themselves with appearances. I suppose that’s good only if you are a social worker, a shrink or a repo man. You will have a lot of customers. Are we going to be one of those customers? Hollow men made whole. Man’s appearance may be fake, but God’s worship makes us whole.

What had God desired from the people of Judah? He desired a worship of him that was a worship of truth and purity. He wanted them to have the best preachers, the best teachers, the best of everything, so he asked that there be a centralized worship in the Temple. That’s where they would gather for the worship of God according to the way God had prescribed worship to be. And, as God had wanted worship to be true, he wanted worship to be sincere, people coming not for the show or to show off, but people to come and humbly worship in a service geared around Law and Gospel, repentance and forgiveness for the sake of the Savior.

Does our worship here work that way? You bet it does. Is it important? You bet it is. I got a flyer in the mail this week trumpeting, “Remember that going to a good church is the key in your development as a Christian.”

Christians develop at Green Valley Evangelical Lutheran Church’s worship first of all at baptism. The Holy Spirit works through the water and the Word to create faith in the infants, strengthen faith in those older who have never experienced baptism’s blessings. Green Valley Evangelical Lutheran Church’s worship develops Christians through the sobering news that we are all hollow on the inside. Sin empties our lives of joy and purpose by turning us against God and against each other. It is so terrible a plague that only God can remove it and he has, through the life, death and resurrection of his Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ. He freely gives us forgiveness of our sins through a hearing of that Gospel, and through a participation in the reception of Jesus’ true body and blood with the bread and the wine in the Lord’s Supper. What surer proof could we have that we are children of God, saved from sin and destined for heaven? Because we have God’s sure Word on that, we don’t need testimonials from tottering spokesmen, adrenaline rushes or dubious signs. Green Valley Evangelical Lutheran Church’s worship develops Christians by calling sin sin and virtue virtue. We can be so presumptuous to do so because we cling to that pure Word of God. We believe it came from God. We believe it is the very Word of God. Inspired. True. Always relevant. Always sufficient.

That’s why it is important to develop that habit of coming to worship. The veteran Christian knows that when they are going astray, hearing God’s Law is the last thing they want to hear. And it is hard to understand how the very things we are going through are what the preacher is preaching about that week. Nobody is going to get all excited about “going to get a beating.” But the veteran Christians knows that when they are going astray, keeping away from worship is not the way to go. They habitually go to church so that, even when they don’t want to, they hear the spiritual medicine that they need. If you can prove to me every child willingly takes his or her medicine when they are sick, then I will say it is not important to develop a habit of weekly worship as a safeguard for the hard times in our lives.

The sinner in Green Valley Evangelical Lutheran Church’s worship will hear the pure Gospel, not only as a sweet relief from the sins that beset us, but also as the power from God to resist that sin and overcome it in the future. What good is a religion that only preaches “I told you so”? What good is a church that only tells you, “You can do it”? We rely on the Gospel from beginning to end, to start faith, to sustain faith, to strengthen faith, that we may receive the crown of glory from the

Lord’s hand the day we enter into heaven.

Hollow Men Made Whole

1.Man’s appearance may be fake.

2.God’s worship makes us real.

Perception is reality? I hope we all realize that’s not the case. We’ll be the worst of voters and at the same time, the worst of Christians.

posted by admin on Jun 20

Experts expect that the Fukushima Dai-ichi catastrophe in Japan could cause nuclear radiation poisoning worldwide, and workers at the nuclear power plant say death from radiation poisoning is inevitable. A Google search for Japanese nuclear radiation poisoning revealed widespread panic-buying of iodine in the USA, in order to help prevent thyroid cancer.

This commentary is about preventing nuclear radiation poisoning resulting from radioactive water that Japan dumped into the Pacific Ocean. People living on the west coast of the USA are very concerned about millions of gallons of highly radioactive water that has spilled into it.

The risk for radiation poisoning is higher than high, especially in Japan. The danger of radiation poisoning is extreme because the tsunami-damaged nuclear power plant at Fukushima Dai-ichi has been discharging large amounts of water, which was used for cooling reactors, and it’s teeming with high levels of radiation.

Water that’s charged with high levels of radiation has been spilling unabatedly into the Pacific Ocean as of March 26, 2011.

A Google search for Japanese radiation poisoning opened a March 14, 2011 Fox News report about it. Not only that, but the Google search revealed that the damaged nuclear power plant disaster is causing a panic buy-out of iodine tablets in the USA, as an anti-radiation remedy, over fear of radiation poisoning.

The Japanese nuclear meltdown signaled alarm about global radiation poisoning. Another Google search turned up a quote by the USA Surgeon General, who said, “Be Prepared” while he was in California back in the first part of March. USA Surgeon General’s warning terrified Americans, which resulted in a panic buy-out of over the counter anti-radiation drugs because of nuclear fall-out fears

The tsunami-damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, because of a massive earthquake off the coastline of Japan, has brought about attention to dangers of radiation poisoning.

A Google search uncovered a Fox News report that said nuclear fuel rods were partially exposed, which is why some people in the USA might panic about a meltdown–one that, experts say, would send radiation drifting across the Pacific Ocean.

An untold number of Japanese people were hospitalized for radiation exposure because of the disaster. Some USA citizens are in a panic about radiation poisoning spread in the USA, especially after a series of hydrogen explosions damaged nuclear reactors and put the reactors at increased risk of radioactive core meltdowns, a Google search revealed; in the aftermath of the devastatingly large 9.0 magnitude Japanese earthquake.

The extremely radioactive iodine-131 and cesium-137 were detected outside of the Fukushima plant, which indicated that nuclear fuel melted and the radioactive cores were damaged.

Almost 200 Japanese were hospitalized, shortly following the initial disaster, for radiation exposure. Everybody living within a radius of 12 miles of the Fukushima nuclear plant had to evacuate the area.

Fear that liquefied nuclear fuel might break through containment barriers, and then spew radioactivity into the air because of a nuclear reactor meltdown, were high. Joseph Cirincione of Ploughshares Fund, who is an American nuclear expert, reported to Fox News that radiation might rise high into the atmosphere; and the jet stream would probably carry it to the USA.

Symptoms of Nuclear Radiation Poisoning

Radiation poisoning is also known as the acute radiation syndrome, which is the result of exposure to radiation. Symptoms of serious radiation poisoning include:

• Diarrhea
• Nausea, and
• Vomiting

The acute radiation syndrome symptoms manifest themselves within a few minutes of being exposed to, and absorbing, radiation. The initial symptoms of acute radiation poisoning might last for just a few minutes, or even days; and then they subside.

The radiation-poisoning symptoms, however, will probably resume later; and they might intensify with more symptoms, including:

• Fatigue,
• Loss of appetite,
• Skin damage,
• Fever,
• Seizures,
• Coma; and ultimately,
• Death.

The American Thyroid Association warns that when thyroid cells are inundated with a high concentration of radioactive iodine-131, the risk of coming down with thyroid cancer increases exponentially. Thyroid cells can become overwhelmed with the unstable radioactive iodine-131 when a person drinks radioactive-tainted water, breaths contaminated air, or by eating food polluted with radiation.

The meltdown, which occurred during the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster for instance, is blamed for an epidemic of thyroid cancer; and, decades later, there was a dramatic upsurge in leukemia in the area of the disaster.

Panic over exposure to radioactive iodine-131 that was emitted from the Fukushima meltdown has compelled Japanese authorities to distribute 230,000 units of iodine pills to evacuation centers that were close to the Fukushima disaster.

The thyroid gland absorbs stable iodine, which helps make hormones, therefore it’s common practice to distribute iodine tablets during nuclear disasters. Iodine tablets help protect the thyroid gland because it fills-up the thyroid gland so there’s no room is left for it to absorb the dangerous radioactive iodine-131.

Otherwise, the thyroid gland would soak up destructive radioactive iodine-131 as readily as it would absorb the more stable iodine.

Japanese authorities issued iodine tablets to help protect people that live near the reactor; and a recent study proposed that using red wine, to help wash them down, could help the body neutralize radiation poison.

The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine proved that resveratrol, which is a naturally occurring antioxidant that’s found in red wine, helps protect cells from radiation; by experimenting with mice.

But a single glass of red wine, or even one or two bottles, contains very little resveratrol. It would be better to get a supplement that has 1000 times the amount of resveratrol, which is in a single bottle of red wine; and take it with another supplement that has a stable form of iodine–preferably one that includes the element boron, because that’s the ingredient they use to help clean-up accidents involving nuclear radiation.

A Google search opened a Wikipedia article, which said, “Boron shielding is used as a control for nuclear reactors, taking advantage of its high cross-section for neutron capture.”

posted by admin on Jun 15

Having been on Troas, on the beautiful picturesque west coast of modern day Turkey, I can imagine something of this dramatic scenario. It was warm that evening in Troas, as Paul preached to the attentive fellowship. No-one was overly concerned that Paul spoke for some considerable time. In some places today if you speak and teach for over forty minutes that can be regarded as a fault, but not so on this occasion, and not so in Uganda and Kenya.

These folks would have done a full day’s work prior to the evening Worship, and as the oil lamps burned, the upstairs room became hot and stuffy.

One young man, sitting on a ledge, dropped off, and fell out the window from the third storey. It was a long drop!

Eutychus is lying in the street below, a lifeless huddle and described by Dr Luke as being dead.

They inform Paul, who went down to minister to him, and he is revived by the power of the risen and living Lord Jesus Christ.

Seeing Eutychus fully recovered, they continued with the service. Paul returned to that upper room, where the bread and wine was shared, and Paul taught until dawn. Quite a night that was in Troas.

Soon it was time for Paul and team to move on from Troas. When they said their ‘Farewells’ young Eutychus is present, and none the worse of his temporary downfall. You can read the full details of what actually happened in Acts Chapter 20 in the New Testament part of the Bible.

These disciples of Jesus appear to take this miracle in their stride, being used to the supernatural moving of the Holy Spirit. Everyone was strengthened and built up as result of Paul’s apostolic ministry.

O, to have had a recording of that service. What did he teach and which topics did he cover over a five or six hour period?

Imagine the conversation among the fellowship and family and friends as they travelled home, knowing they would never again see beloved Paul.

Alas, we are not given these details, which might be interest to some. We are only given the important facts and there is no reference whatsoever to the emotions and feelings which must have arisen.

That’s vital on such occasions. We need to know the facts and not just be curious about certain emotional reactions!

Emotions can be so subjective, but facts remain facts and facts keep to the truth and to what actually happened on an occasion. Paul, the speaker and teacher on this occasion, and Luke the writer, both kept to the facts. Now, that too exemplifies real leadership.

Sandy Shaw