I loved this documentary film on Bethany Hamilton! Loved every frame, and spent the entire film chocked up with admiration and pride as I watched this Christian woman's story of unstoppable faith as she overcame all odds. Truly an inspirational film for all ages. It's on Netflix.

  This famous painting is called "Seven Acts of Mercy" by Caravaggio - Here's the interpretation - 

Bury the dead - In the background, two men carry a dead man (of whom only the feet are visible)

Visit the imprisoned, and feed the hungry - 
On the right, a woman visits an imprisoned man and gives him milk from her breast. That image alludes to the classic story of "Roman Charity." 

Shelter the homeless - A pilgrim (third from left, identified by the shell in his hat) asks an innkeeper (at far left) for shelter. 

Clothe the naked - St. Martin, fourth from the left, has torn his robe in half and given it to the naked beggar in the foreground, recalling the saint's popular legend. 

Visit the sick - St. Martin greets and comforts the beggar who is cripple. 

Refresh the thirsty - Samson drinks water from the jawbone of an ass. (top left)

The angel at the center of Caravaggio's piece transmits the grace that inspires humanity to be merciful. 

  

    

  John Ruskin, what a mind, what a person! I was introduced to him some years back and he has written on many subjects but I'll give you a sample here because he is truly a fascinating and wise person.

Ruskin

  "Among the heroic souls who have sought to recover the lost paradise and recapture the glory of an undefiled and blessed world stands John Ruskin, oft an apostle of gentle words that heal like medicines, and sometimes a prophet of Elijah-like sternness and grandeur, consuming man's sins with works of flame. Thomas Carlyle wrote to Emerson saying, "There is nothing going on among us as notable as those fierce lightning bolts Ruskin is copiously and desperately pouring into the black world of anarchy around him. No other man has in him the divine rage against iniquity, falsity, and baseness that Ruskin has, and every man ought to have."

Regarding his respect for all people -  "One morning, crossing the field toward the Matterhorn, he met a suffering peasant, and in that hour, the mountain become as nothing in the presence of his brother man.

In all his later books he is a light bearer, seeking to guide men into happiness and virtue. He reminds the weary king and the tormented slave alike that the secrets of happiness are in "drawing hard breath over chisel, or spade, or plow, n watching the corn grow and the blossom set, and, after toil, in reading, thinking, in hoping and praying. Would any man be strong, let him work; or wise, let him observe and think; or happy, let him help; or influential, let him sacrifice and serve."

Regarding foolish sacrifices for wealth Ruskin wrote,

"Does some youth deny beauty to the eye, books to the mind, and friendship to the heart, that he may gather gold and daily eat stalled ox in a palace? This youth is a prince who has voluntarily entered a dungeon to spend his time gathering the rotting straw from the damp stones to twist it into a filthy wreath for his forehead.

  Does some Samson of industry use his superior wisdom to gather into his hands all the lines of some branch trade while others starve? He is like unto a wrecker, who lures some good ship upon the rocks that he may clothe himself with garments and possess purses taken from the bodies of brave men slain by deceit."

   "Now it is the glorious characteristic of Christ's salvation that it sets at liberty our Love, breaks down the prison walls of self, and carries us freely forth into this goodly universe; as the Home of our Father and of His vast Family; that it instructs us how to find objects for our largest affections in all God's children; that it encourages us to identify our private welfare with the advancing good of humanity; that it quickens us to interlink ourselves with all mankind of all classes and conditions; by reverent admiration with the good, by reconciling mercy with the evil, be cheerful sympathy with the happy, by tender compassion with the suffering, by redeeming pity with the oppressed, by hope with all; and thus to make our own lives entirely one with the life of our Race. 
There is an exulting joy in this enlargement of Personal Being; and this limitless expansion of Love was an essential aim of our Savior." William Ellery Channing

 I chose this photo because with the virtues listed above there is hope for even a person acting so obnoxious and angry as the woman pictured. As Christ captures more and more of our hearts we see all people with compassion, and without that, where would a woman like this find help?  

  "Again, Jesus came not only to emancipate the Intellect and Moral Power, but to set free our imprisoned Energy of Love. Man was made for love; he lives by love; and the measure of his life is the largeness and liberty of his love. He is born into the arms and nourished on the breast of love. And in domestic life we often see developed an almost miraculous force of disinterested affection. But the human Heart was not designed to be confined to home, however heavenly that home may be. Its emotions naturally flow outward, circle beyond circle, in ever widening waves of sympathy, embracing in their compass a constantly enlarging sphere, and blending at length with the commingling currents and tides of love of the whole race." William Ellery Channing. 

"We are all conscious, however partially, that in human nature there is a Principle that delights in heroic virtue, that admires and reveres men illustrious for self-sacrificing devotedness, that feeds with joy on fictions wherein fellow beings, amidst great trials and perils, are faithful to duty, and act with noble unselfishness whatever the cost. We all have experienced, in some degree, the workings of this Superior Nature, so as to rejoice with triumphant sympathy, when we read the memoirs of men and women, refined from self-love, pure in principle, consecrated to grand purposes, ascending by lives of ever enlarging love to the blessedness of a heavenly world. Now this high power of heart and will, which prompts us to aspire after Perfect Excellence, Jesus came to set free. His aim was to enlarge and invigorate it, to exalt it to supremacy, and by His own character, example, and influence, to win and welcome it to that Divine Goodness, which it impels us to pursue." William Ellery Channing.

"All moral and spiritual things, all real truths of the soul, differ in the following way from the formulas of science and doctrines or philosophy; moral realities are more largely understood in physical form and concrete embodiment than in a general statement; and to know the infinite depth there is and the boundless reach of application, in goodness, love and faith, it is better to look on one saintly life or even a single act of noble living obedience, than into whole digests and bibles of definitions however comprehensive and precepts however divine." J. Martineau.

So the point is, just like this one picture, it says more about heroism and nobility than a hundred sermons.

"It has been my experience that Christians can be more difficult to work with than addicts."

That statement came from Michael Dye an International Certified Christian Addiction counselor. He goes on to explain why.

" I think the reason for this is that even though many Christians are just as deeply wounded as many of the drug addicts, they are still functioning at a socially acceptable level. They use more socially acceptable addictions like anxiety, food, work, religion, and control to mask and cope with their pain."

I found that interesting, especially religion, which I take to mean the "Black and white legalism" as well as "control" which can be an overbearing use of anger, discipline and sometimes intimidation to manage their homes. But instead of looking for help, they refuse and never move forward.

The trouble with sex education

  
"I mislike to write of sex. It makes me uneasy. Oh, I know one is supposed to be able to treat it like any other subject, but the fact remains that it is not any other subject. It is itself, explosive, variant, provocative and very close to the bone. As to my mind, it should be. Sex has suffered from exposition, not because those who would study it are malicious, but because to make explicit what is by nature implicit is dangerous and misleading. Like the atom, the moment one observes it closely, it shifts so that the thing one conscientiously examines is not what actually is."