Is What Your Buying American Made?

My Sister in Tennessee sent me this article that really gave me thunder to advocate our American value system and give everyone I know a new challenge to defend our economy in the United States of America.  Please read this article first, then I need to add my own findings:

When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe...Luke 11:21    
             One Light Bulb at a Time

  A physics teacher in high school, once told the students that while one
  grasshopper on the railroad tracks wouldn't slow a train very much, a
  billion of them would. With that thought in mind, read the following,
  obviously written by a good American.

  Check this out. I can verify this because I was in Lowes the other day
  for some reason and just for the heck of it I was looking at the hose
  attachments. They were all made in China. The next day I was in Ace
  Hardware and just for the heck of it I checked the hose
  attachments there. They were made in USA. Start looking.

  In our current economic situation, every little thing we buy or do
  affects someone else - even their job . So, after reading this email, I
  think this lady is on the right track . Let's get behind her!

  My grandson likes Hershey's candy . I noticed, though, that it is marked
  made in Mexico now... I do not buy it any more.
  My favorite toothpaste Colgate is made in Mexico .... now I have switched
  to Crest. You have to read the labels on everything.

  This past weekend I was at Kroger. I needed 60 W light bulbs and Bounce
  dryer sheets . I was in the light bulb aisle, and right next to the GE
  brand I normally buy was an off-brand labeled, "Everyday Value ....   " I
  picked up both types of bulbs and compared the stats -
  they were the same except for the price .. The GE bulbs were more money
  than the Everyday Value brand but the thing that surprised me the most
  was the fact that GE was made in MEXICO and the Everyday Value brand was
  made in - get ready for this - the USA in a company in Cleveland , Ohio .

  So throw out the myth that you cannot find products you use every day
  that are made right here ...

  So on to another aisle - Bounce Dryer Sheets ... yep, you guessed it,
  bounce cost more money and is made in Canada ... The Everyday Value  brand
  was less money and MADE IN THE USA ! I did laundry yesterday and the
  dryer sheets performed just like the Bounce Free I have been using
  for years and at almost half the price!

  My challenge to you is to start reading the labels when you shop for
  everyday things and see what you can find that is made in the USA - the
  job you save may be your own or your neighbors!

  If you accept the challenge, pass this on to others in your address book
  so we can all start buying American, one light bulb at a time! Stop
  buying from overseas companies!

Todd's challenge here: If this doesn't wake us up nothing will ? I have been an Electrical contractor in the state of California for 16 years and I frequently buy supplies from both Home Depot and Lowes. Slowly but surely I started noticing the replacement of name brands with unknowns especially from Lowe's.  Come to find out, just about every product in Lowes is made in China.  We are definitely being sold out and without restating the obvious from the article above; we need to stop this nonsense.  For starters, we need to boycott Lowes. They are the most guilty for ruining jobs for us and this is treason to our American Culture and we need to take a stand against such chains like this that defeat our once precious way of life on American soil.  Just SAY NO to China Products !!  Please have a voice to defend America before we lose everything to offshore production and ultimately we become the highest unemployed nation in the world!!!

But I say unto you, Swear not at all; Matthew 5:34

An appliance man from Cape Coral Florida writes a good commentary on swearing and the offences it brings to the Christian ears and hearts:

 

Swearing in Jesus name!!!

I fully understand when one says that we can offend God's senses. I don't mean to be a snob but when i'm in a room and someone says "Jesus Christ" as in being angry, bothered, or just as their reply to everything is drives me crazy. The closer i get to God and i have tremendously this offends my senses to the very core!

I brought this up probably more than a year ago and the advice was to say "Is LORD!". I felt this was pretty good advice and use it. I think sometimes secular people knowng i'm a Christian say this in their responses thinking its a good thing to say the name of the Lord in this manner. I have tried correcting people on this and you know how this ends...the look of ("What a phoney Christian, hypocrites!, all of you" ) on their faces and words.

Recently, i have been going through this from very close people i love tremendously. All day long..."Jesus Christ" this and "Jesus Christ" that..All day! At the end of the day we were searching on the TV menu for something to watch when a program scrolled down i believe was called something like "God vs. satan" . I said lets watch that! The reply was with a strong negative answer. Haven't you talked enough about the Bible today?!!! The answer was "No, i haven't mention the Bible once today and you brought up the name of Jesus many tmes where i had not mentioned His name once"

I pray for change and thats what we are supposed to do. So what does one do next? This really hurts me to the very core and i feel so defensive of Christ more so now than i ever have in my life and i really could use some real advice with prayers of course. I also feel God put me in this situatuaion this past couple of weeks for a reason which always get an answer but sometimes being in God's timing not mine i can get a little frustrated, then calmed by the Holy Spirit. Maybe this is where i am to get an answer.

I love many but the many are lost and i feel like i said previously that i feel God put me there for a reason. It hit me like a ton of bricks where i feel like crying is how the gate to heaven is narrow. I've never even thought about this subject. It just hit me hard and it saddens the life out of me that many will truly be left behind and many WILL be going to hell of which is a subject that most avoid or convinced themselves that it doesn't exists.

The latest advice was to yell "Halleluah" loudly (spellcheck please, lol) along with "Is Lord". The Holy Spirit has quieted me on this as well. I'm not going to change the world, my family, my friends. I was told to be "in Christ" in all i say and do. My behavour will be my example of my happiness with Christ. And i should know better because i have written blogs where i explained that close family and friends would get mad at me for NOT getting mad in many situations they witnessed on the streets north of Boston. His will not mine!

Beating The Blues at Christmas Time

Do the blues seem to creep up on you at Christmas time? Some say that these feelings of sadness derive from a variety of sources from within us. Some emotions are brought on by absent family during the holidays or fond memories of great times of late that you wish you could be reliving each and every year with the same level of joy.  Others say that because the end of another year is closing out we often take inventory of our accomplishments throughout the past year and we just aren't quite satisfied with our progress report.  Hind sight is  20/20? I say it's just a windfall of collapse across the finish line of the perpetual calendar year and we just find ourselves sitting quietly on the bench taking it all in with every reflection of our course starring you in the face as the final score is tallied.  With or without your permission you must concede to the final outcome of your efforts and your reaction is usually emotional.  Your Heavenly Father sees and hears your distress during these times especially.  The Bible says "The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart"(Psalm 34:18) And that we need to "Cast our cares upon Him for He cares for us"   Jesus said in His Gospels to "come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden - and I will give you rest".   You see, He knows and understands our pain because he lived in the flesh as we are now and He endured every sorrow that we are facing now and will ever face.  So, we must remember that He understands our lives inside and out.  So please, continue to trust and obey His will and plan for our lives from the beginning to the end - He will see you through and He will never leave us or forsake us! We only see the small picture - He sees the Big one.(or the final result)

Keep An Eye On Your Loved Ones(or pets)

Ever just wish you could be a fly on the wall just to peek in on your family or pets while you're gone?  Me too! We just hated leaving the house and not quite knowing when we would return from outings and not being able to check in on our daughter Rachelle being cared for by our in-home nurses.  If there was only a device or a camera that we could just dial into to have a look on things?  Then we found the perfect solution: The Panasonic BL-C121A Wireless Network Camera.  This is a wireless portable camera that looks just like a baby monitor but way more advanced.  It works with your DSL router in your home and once its set up you can view it from any internet connection in the world!  This thing works great!  If you have pets it works the same way.  Just place the camera in the same room they're in or point it out the window into your back yard or wherever you want.  This is really cool!!  We're thinking of buying a second one for the front yard to look in on things at night when we're away.  Here's where we bought ours for the lowest price:

Gods Promise To Never Flood the Earth Again.

It is such a comfort to witness Gods' Rainbow in the clouds after a terrible storm.  After all, it is His Convenant to us since the great flood during Noahs time that He will never flood the earth like that again. Genesis 9:12-15 reads:¹²And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
 ¹³I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
 ¹⁴And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
 ¹⁵And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
Remember God caused it to rain for 40 days and the Ark floated around for 150 days and it took 7 months before Noah and his family could even see the tops of the mountains again. Wheeewwww!! Now that's a flood !!! We should always be grateful to our Father God for His Rainbow Covenant when we see it after every storm and remember -This ain't nothin' to what happened in Noah's day. We are so blessed!  Here is the latest Rainbow I captured outside my house after todays storm:

 Todd Phillips

Can you Believe we made this Video?

Look at this Christmas video we made this year? We did it with the JibJab Free Trial listed on my blog page right margin > > >

You Get what you pay for.

Have you ever purchased something at the store you just had to have? But, once you got it home everything you were expecting just didn't seem as glitzy as they advertised it.  It's called product glamourizing!  It happens to us all everyday with products we see on television.  Remember, there is no free lunch - you really do get what you pay for!  If it seems too good to be true - it probably is. So, do your homework thoroughly and don't anticipate its value beyond the price you paid for it !!