Trick or Treat; Happy Halloween! !

Halloween Trick or Treat beauties at my house last year! Little Red Riding Hood, Beautiful Witch , Flapper Girl and Boxing Champ!

Wilberforce Signing!

On the evening of December 10, 2008, the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Act was passed by both houses of Congress. The White House invited 10 representatives from non-government organizations to be present at the Wilberforce signing in the Oval office (December 2008). They also invited 4 political appointees in various offices that deal with anti-trafficking efforts.

Pictured above is our daughter , Dr. Janice Crouse, who was one of those chosen for this historical signing in the Oval office (slighly to the right of President George W. Bush ) The Wilberforce signing was part of the Battle to Pass the
William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Act . (1)

These chosen for the signing were people who have worked on the front lines of the policy battles over the anti-trafficking efforts.

The widespread and increasing use of rape as a systematic weapon of war, even of genocide, the international trafficking in persons, mainly women and children, has also risen alarmingly. Children are sold and women are lured or kidnapped and then sold into sexual slavery.

William Wilberforce 1759-1833
William Wilberforce came from a prosperous merchant family of Kingston-upon-Hull, a North Sea port. At twenty-one, elected to Parliament for his native town. A conversion to evangelical Christianity in 1785 changed his approach to politics. In 1787 he became, the parliamentary leader of the slavery abolition movement. William Willberforce labored ceaselessly for the abolition of slavery.

John Wesley, on the 24th of February, 1793 at age eighty-eight year, a week before his death, wrote the last letter he would ever write. The letter was to Wilberforce ,urging him to continue the fight for the Abolition of Slavery. Wesley said, "...Oh, be not weary in well-doing. Go on, in the name of God and in the power of his might, till slavery, the vilest that ever saw the sun, shall be banished away..."

It was under John Wesley's preaching and work among the poor in England that a revival of Christan faith and care for the poor spread thoughout England. At the time of the American Revolution it swept across the ocean to American with the great evangelistic preaching and work by George Whitfield, Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury.

It was Christians, like Wilberforce and Wesley who fought against the evil of slavery. As far as we know, no one of the Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist, Secularist, Atheist or other religion ever fought to end the worldwide system of slavery.

1.Other invited quests for the signing in the picture above include L to R, Michael Chertoff- former Secretary of Homelan Security, Michael Horowitz-Hudson Institute, Rachel Lloyd- Girls Educational and Mentoring Services (GEMS). New York City, NYC. Gary Haugen- International Justice Mission, Brad Miles-Polarius Project, Kevin Bales- Author of Disposal People, Directly behind Janice Shaw Crouse is Richard Land, head of Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission for Southern Baptists

Autumn Wisdom

The Prophet Isaiah (55:12) talks about mountains and hills breaking forth into singing and trees clapping their hands.

It seems to me the mountains are singing clearer and louder in Autumn. It is in the Fall of the year that the mountains call us to see and hear and experience the beauty of the mountains!

John Muer made some interesting comments about trees, not just about trees singing but also preaching! He wrote: "Few are altogether deaf to the preaching of pine trees. Their sermons on the mountains go to our hearts; and if people in general could be got into the woods, even for once, to hear the trees speak for themselves, all difficulties in the way of forest preservation would vanish." -John Muir, naturalist, explorer, and writer (1838-1914)

A few years ago, Ken Cook, a meteorologist, spoke to our Retired Pastors group at Simpsonwod United Methodist Center about his flower business in North Georgia. He told us that his Dahlias bloom in the Spring and in the Fall. He said that when they bloom again in the Fall, the colors are more vibrant and sparkling than when they bloomed in the Spring.

More vibrant, more sparkling in the Fall? (The photo above is a small vase of the Amazingly beautiful Autumn blooming Dahlias from the garden of Terrell and Sheila Shaw (October 17, 2009) On the right is a dahlia blooming in a pot near my driveway now in October 2010. (photo by Joan)

What about the Autumn of life? I wrote a poem! The last verse of my poem is for all of us who are “old” and for the rest of us who are planning on getting a “whole lot older.”

Autumn Wisdom

I walked into October
And lifted up my ears to hear
The very mountains singing
Choir-robed for praise . . .
in Autumn . . . clear . . .

Sunset yellows, burning bush reds.
My heart . . . in awe . . . took off its shoes
And stood on Holy ground to view
Creation's God in Autumn hue . . .

For every tree was clapping
The Doxology . . . lifted high
I think some unseen maestro
Was pointing to the sky!

I heard the mountains singing
With concert voices raised
When every hill pulled out the stops,
Adorned in breathless Autumn praise!.

I shall long remember this:
The mountains grandest notes are sung
Not in springtime's newness .
But in Autumn’s aging tongue.

by R.B.S. copyright 1989