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Ben Stein writes in his last column for E! Online:

…We are puny, insignificant creatures.

We are not responsible for the operation of the universe, and what happens to us is not terribly important. God is real, not a fiction, and when we turn over our lives to Him, he takes far better care of us than we could ever do for ourselves.

In a word, we make ourselves sane when we fire ourselves as the directors of the movie of our lives and turn the power over to Him.

I came to realize that life lived to help others is the only one that matters. This is my highest and best use as a human.

I can put it another way. Years ago, I realized I could never be as great an actor as Olivier or as good a comic as Steve Martin–or Martin Mull or Fred Willard–or as good an economist as Samuelson or Friedman or as good a writer as Fitzgerald. Or even remotely close to any of them.

But I could be a devoted father to my son, husband to my wife and, above all, a good son to the parents who had done so much for me. This came to be my main task in life.

And he quotes an excerpt from John F. Kennedy’s inauguration speech in January of 1961:

On a very cold and bright day in D.C., he said, “With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth…asking His blessing and His help but knowing that here on Earth, God’s work must surely be our own.”

I just watched a portion of the show Crimes and Trials on the History Channel featuring the Son of Sam killing spree that paralyzed New York City with fear back in the ’70s. David Berkowitz is now serving 350 years in a maximum security prison for the murders he committed then.

There was another program that I caught earlier in the evening that also featured Berkowitz. The Focus on the Family radio program had Berkowitz discuss “how poor choices led to the horrific murders he committed, and how he eventually became a Christian.” Here’s David in his own words:

…God is the God of love, forgiveness, mercy and hope. And He’ll have compassion on anybody that comes to Him because Jesus came into this world to save sinners and if He could save someone like me, a man who is a murderer, who is a criminal, who was in trouble and tormented most of his life, I know that God can save anybody, that there is nobody beyond the reach of His salvation, of His outstretched hands of love.

Are these insincere words aimed to please the parole board? Quite the contrary. He has sent a letter to the governor of New York rejecting a parole hearing for himself. Read Berkowitz’s personal testimony and view a mini-documentary on a life transformed from his official website.

Landslides claim lives on both sides of the Pacific. 20,000 die in a 6.6-magnitude earthquake in Iran. Meat from a cow infected with mad cow disease is found in eight U.S. states. Unrest continues in the Middle East.

What are we to make of turmoil during this “season of peace”? The actual verse in the Bible that alludes to this peace says “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” This was declared by a heavenly host after an angel announced the birth of Jesus Christ to the shepherds. Peace in this context means the ending of hostility between God and man. God entered into this world in the person of Jesus Christ so that he may share in our human struggles and experiences. And ultimately, he was offered as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Those “men on whom his favor rests” are those who, having been justified by faith, “have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

He assures us, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

This deserves its own entry and not just an update (read the original entry here).

My phone has been found!! The bus driver handed it to me this morning when I got on the bus. He knew about my lost phone because I spoke to him about it yesterday. He said he was going to ask around when he got back to the bus yard. And that he did. Apparently, another bus driver who took over the bus and drove to Stockton (yes, that far) saw my phone and handed it over to the cleaning crew at the end of his shift. The cleaning crew then handed it over to their manager. The manager turned it in at the Lost and Found department. And that’s where Mr. Bus Driver found my phone. The bus driver’s name is David G., by the way. He went out of his way to investigate. Thanks, man! He and the whole Amtrak motorcoach crew are awesome.

God is so faithful. He’s even faithful in the small things. I prayed about the phone but honestly, I considered it as good as gone. Oh, I’m of such little faith! God’s been so good. Praise Him! Praise Him! I’m not just happy about the phone being returned to me. This is just a small part of the many things he’s been doing in my life. He even used this incident to deal with one particular area of my life. I’ve been praying to God to deal with my reactions to certain situations and I believe this was an answered prayer. When I told the wife about the lost phone, first of all God gave me the courage to do so (hehe). Next he allowed me to calmly cope with the storm that was to follow. Normally, my wife and I would be at each other’s throats over something like this, pointing the finger and blaming each other. Because I’ve applied certain principles about dealing with anger in a Christ-like manner, the matter didn’t blow up into ridiculous proportions as it would have in the past. Now my wife and I could look back at this incident and say we’ve worked it out in a manner pleasing to God. Additionally, we know for sure that there is a better way to handle stressful situations like this.

Praise the Lord for putting us through trials. Praise him for the sanctification process that we go through. I feel so blessed. (I wonder if Ganns would mind if I call this site SuperBlessedTwo.net, hehe).

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6

This is surely the most difficult blog entry I have had to write so far. On Tuesday, October 7, 2003, at approximately 11:30 a.m., my mother-in-law passed away. After an unsuccessful heart operation, she was put on life-support. A difficult decision was reached by her dear husband and children to withdraw the life-support after signs of meaningful life have proven absent.

It is a shock to us all. On Sunday night, the evening before her operation, we were with her and she was full of life, laughing and in high spirits. This is the last time we would converse with her.

Mom was a loving grandmother, a dedicated mother, and a doting wife.

Thanks for your faithful prayers. When we ask for something from the Lord, it is ultimately his sovereign will that prevails. St. Paul asked the Lord three times to remove the “thorn in his flesh,” but God chose for it to remain. Paul’s response was to recognize that in his weakness, God’s power is perfected. Even the Lord Jesus Christ prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Had Jesus’ death on the cross not taken place, no propitiation for our sins would have been possible.

Mom’s sudden passing happened for a purpose. This purpose will be revealed in the hereafter, if not in this side of heaven.