Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Phillipians 4:6

I took this photo just a little way from my home. The rain had started to let up to the south, on Lake St. Clair, but clouds still darkened the north. The rainbow appeared suddenly over St. Johns Marsh.  When I pulled over, I realized that it perfectly framed the sign.

Sometimes God gives me a gift that I don’t recognize fully when I receive it.

Ever since I was a kid, I have felt that decisions have tremendous consequences and that (inevitably, it seemed) past careless decisions lead inexoribly to current problems. As a result, I tend to procrastinate over choices and second-guess myself afterwards. 

Even when I prayed over a decision, I saw it as closing a door on an opportunity - with no going back. What if I was wrong in my choice and didn’t realize it until later on? I especially panicked when circumstances forced a choice. For example, I chose a corporate job over journalism when it became clear I couldn’t support myself on unpaid internships, $-per-inch freelancing, or the low starting salaries of weeklies. I kicked myself for years at the waste of my education, talent, etc.

I’ve never liked that saying “When a door closes, God opens a window opens.”  It made God sound cruel. After all, with my luck I’d end up hitting a sidewalk face-first. “When one door closes, another door opens” is a little better - unless you’re trying to get out the closed door and the axe-murdering clown is coming in the other… but I digress.

This photo, which I’ve posted over my desk, reminds me that God is generous. He never gives just one opportunity or one good choice, whether it’s an opportunity to repent or a choice to relocate.  I can trust Him to lead me to a good end in everything.

I used to pray the old Guardian Angel prayer every day when I was a kid. In the first grade classroom, Sister Agnesita had a print of an angel watching over two children crossing over a rickety bridge.  The angel was female and dressed very prettily. However, I thought of my Phred as male - a nice young fellow who wasn’t ready to clobber me like my brothers.  I also figured Phred was kind of plainly dressed and silent, ready to jump into action. Except when I was taking a bath. Then I thought he waited outside the bathroom door (with the dog) and I’d have to holler for Mom if I got my big toe stuck in the faucet or something.

But for many years (decades) I completely neglected to talk to or even think about Phred.  There was also a New Agey “angel movement”  which seemed to infiltrate even retreats. It marketed guardian angels as subservient beings, at worst a tool for getting one’s desire and at best a Jeeves-like personal assistant, constantly pulling his master out of a scrapes. I felt sort of embarrassed to be talking to him, as if I’d catch some  sort of cosmic cooties.

But I began to rediscover what angels are and how blessed I am to have Phred. And I’ve been thinking a lot about angels, especially since I started making clay sculptures that incorporate Christian symbols. (More on that later.)

And so, for old time’s sake, Phred…

Angel of God,
my guardian dear,
to whom God’s love commits me here,
ever this day,
be at my side
to light and guard,
to rule and guide.

…(H)e is a consciousness objector to his own conscience.

- Jeff Miller, aka The Curt Jester, on Sen. Joe Biden’s convoluted rationale for being Catholic who supports abortion 

“These numbers are unacceptable and are just one more reminder of what is at stake in this election,” Obama said in a statement issued just before McCain and Palin arrived in the state. He reiterated his support of $50 billion in loan guarantees for domestic automakers to help them “retool their factories to make the next generation in fuel efficient vehicles.”

“Re-tooling” isn’t the same thing as “re-engineering.” Nor is publically acknowledging that automotive workers continue to bear the brunt of industry changes the same thing as acknowledging that political policies, including those of Gov. Granholm (D), have contributed a great deal to our one-state recession. 

I don’t recall ANY politician addressing the question of changing our nation’s infrastructure to support the transportation of the future - although they legislate lower carbon emissions even if they occasionally back down when reality strikes. The truth is that there’s a disconnect between political catch phrases and reality.

Case in point: ”We can’t drill our way out” is catchy but vapid.  Suppose we imported more than 80% of our food and were striving for agricultural independence. Can you imagine someone saying, “We can’t farm our way out of this?” Can you imagine any sane people suggesting government-guaranteed loans for farmers who want to grow new high-yield crops, but criticizing them for using every available standard farming method until they developed new high-yield hybrids?

In a similar way, politicians seem to be ignoring what the auto industry knows: Electric/gas hybrids have their own downside. General Motors had an electric car, the EV1, which it stopped producing in 2003 because the batteries were inadequate. Now battery technology is better but still comes with problems. Batteries are made by relatively few producers, they cost roughly $5,000 per battery, and no one seems to want to discuss their disposal. (Replacement is necessary about every 100,000 miles, which means I’d have to buy a new battery at least twice during the life of my car!)  Drivers can rely on electric for short commutes but must switch to gas for distance. Buyers also have to run hybrids a lot longer in order to recoup their cost as opposed to buying a gas-powered car.

“Regardless of what people say, oil-burning cars aren’t going to go away. People still want the  range for long trips and cross-country vacations.” - Keith Balconi, whose automotive engineering degree makes him our family’s Go-To Guy on cars  

Ironically, some of the same people who demand electric hybrids also oppose building new power plants. This June, I received an e-mail from my local teacher’s union asking members to write letters in opposition of new coal-burning plants in Michigan. (I asked if we should start a letter-writing campaign in support of nuclear plants, but received no reply. ) Sen. Obama is anti-nuclear energy and, throughout 2007, supported biofuels like ethanol, as an alternate source for cars.  Can we husk our way out of this crisis? 

There is also criticism of bioreactor landfills which generate methane (CH4). People living nearby are concerned about increased odors, seepage, landfill fires, etc. The US Department of Energy estimates that if 50% of our current waste was used, it could provide over 270 billion cubic feet of methane. That’s equivalent to one percent of current US electrical needs. (Source: www.epa.gov)

T. Boone Pickens has a plan that extolls the virtues of natural gas-powered cars. Such cars (and trucks) already exist. Their spark-ignition engine is basically the same as that of a regular vehicle and they have the same drive train. They’re already in use as fleet vehicles for companies like Schwan’s and for public transportation in our own Port Huron, MI. However, natural gas is a fossil fuels just like coal and oil.

Plus, people who use natural gas daily (like me) don’t relish the idea of rising heating costs because of  higher demand for natural gas. And skeptical taxpayers note that Pickens and other investors in his Clean Energy Fuels Corp. are pushing legislation that would give them an edge over other alternate fuels.

In addition, if natural gas becomes our alternate car fuel, we won’t be using it for the real alternate: hydrogen.

Today, over 90-percent of the hydrogen created in this country is made by steam-reforming of natural gas. This “extra” natural gas that wind power will free up can be used to create hydrogen for fuel cell cars, which are more than twice as efficient as today’s gasoline-powered vehicles and more efficient than natural gas internal combustion engines as well. - Hydro Kevin, on the Hydrogen Cars and Vehicles blog

Maybe - and not just maybe -  the automotive industry is more complicated than politicians would have us believe.

Personally, I went from flabberghasted to incensed in less than a day. Yesterday I read the sick rumors that Gov. Palin’s youngest child was secretly her grandson (some people need to lay off the romance novels). Now that the Palin family has revealed their oldest daughter is pregnant - and therefore can’t be her brother’s mother - the pundits and opinionated cranks have a whole new bag. The gist of these comments seems to be that 1) because the youngest child has Down’s Syndrome, the Gov. needs to go home and be a mother; and 2) because the 17-year-old is pregnant and preparing to marry the father of the baby, the Gov. needs to go home and be a grandmother.  

Oh, irony!

This weekend I enjoyed visiting with my niece and her husband. They are happy about moving into their first home and are expecting their first child. And they’re 19.  Are they children? No.

Today after school, I ran into a former student who was married this spring. She’s expecting her first child this coming winter. She’s 16 and her husband is 24. Are they children? Heck, no!

The irony is that if Gov. Palin’s daughter had chosen to abort the baby, our society would consider her grown-up enough to make that choice. She needn’t have consulted with her mother, either. A 17-year-old is considered old enough to have sex and deal with the consequences on her own.  Parental consent laws are debated endlessly as a controversial limits on “choice”, aren’t they?

But when it comes to politics, suddenly the lip-service feminists (including the men) have become reactionaries who know that the governor’s ovaries dictate that she must step down.

Now, some will want to say that these bishops—and I— are crossing the line from Religion into to politics. But it was the Speaker of the House who started this. The bishops, and I, are not crossing into politics; she, and other pro-abortion Catholic politicians, regularly cross over into teaching theology and doctrine, And it’s our job to try clean up their mess.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NTY1MzAwOTc5MmViMzUyYzM 5YmY3OWFkYzdkMzY0YzM=

The ad, titled “The Greatest”, was produced by The Foundation for a Better Life. They’re also responsible for uplifting billboards that have given me food for thought on the way to and from Port Huron. Browse their wonderful ads if you have a free moment.

Incidentally, my favorite ad of all time is the Faygo soda pop ad that featured the Boblo Island boat and the Faygo Pop song. 

It is, but not in the way I thought.

A Civilization of Love is a great book, a book of contrasts and connections. Anderson traces the call for universal values of equality and human dignity from Paul’s address to the people of Athens* into modern times. His title comes from an encyclical of Pope John Paul II, and the book incorporates ideas from John Locke, Thomas Macauly, Pope Leo XIII, and other sources. I very much appreciated the notes section and excellent bibliography.

Anderson characterizes the source of division in our current civilization as primarily a split between the Culture of Life and the Culture of Death. The former places intrinsic value on the individual, while the latter takes a utilitarian view. 

Too often, people are treated as nothing more than objects - of value only because they are seen as being useful to achieve some purpose, whether it is personal, social, or economic. But the person who is the object of our love is of value because he or she is loved, not because he or she is useful or productive. - p. 14

I was impressed by the examples he chose to show the contrast: two 1964 Noble Prize winners, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Jean-Paul Sartre.  The first chapters are dense with history and the effect of attempts to negate Christianity (and, by extension, its values).

However, Anderson isn’t just informative. At the end of each chapter, he includes a section based on the chapter’s theme, called ”Suggestions for Contemplation and Action”. He calls for people to change their ways of thinking and paying attention to others. Anderson really hits his stride in Chapter 4, when he gives poignant examples of why it’s important to volunteer and not just donate money. Instead of waiting for political solutions to economic and educational problems, Catholics in particular and Christians in general must take personal initiative to make opportunities for the disadvantaged.

Final Note: This excellent book belongs on the shelf with the social commentary of Fr. Benedict Groeschel and George Weigel.

 *See The Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 17.

This review was written as part of The Catholic Company product reviewer program. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on A Civilization of Love - What Every Catholic Can Do to Transform the World.

She was 8, but functioned as a 2-year-old. She had been left alone in a dank room, ignored for most of her life.

There have been some truly horrific stories about children in the news this summer. This story is about a neglectful mother and child abuse investigators who ignored signs, but it’s also hopeful.

http://www.tampabay.com/features/humaninterest/article750838 .ece