A continuation of our featured guest bloggers

 A SAFE AND HEALTHY HALLOWEEN

Costume and Candy make Halloween a fun day . While we keep the costume tradition unaltered lets alter the candy. Make it a healthier candy treat. we do not need sugar- laden candy bars with all due respect to the spirit of the season, lets treat ourselves to healthier sweet treat!

Michelle Obama is encouraging every one to eat healthy, why not start with Halloween

Let the pre party  begin at home with plenty of fruits and a few sugar treats as well. Get everyone involved in the Halloween preparation at home. Invite family and friends to share in your home celebration.

If you are going to a good spirited party, drink responsibly and have a designated driver to  drive you home. There will be plenty of people on the streets and everyone should be safe.

If you need healthy candy treat recipies go to http://ann-remedies.blogspot.com/

Enjoy and have fun




Posted by Ann (Guest blogger)

http://ann-remedies.blogspot.com/

Guest Bloggers Post

The Stresses of Life

I have came across more than 1 person that is stressed this week. So many people have told me or I have seen facebook statuses that they are stressed, mad at school, etc. I know I am one of the people that are stressed too. All of these people are my friends and they all keep saying how stressed they are and it makes me just want to not be their friend anymore. We need to give all are worries and stresses over to God. He can meet all of our needs. I did not say some, I said all. This means that if you have money issues God will meet that need in however He sees fit. If its being worried over being in a relationship or not, give it to God and He will grant you His desire for your life. If you have car problems, yes, this is a stress of mine and another friend, then God will provide something for you. I am sure there are more worries and stresses I could list off but that is beside the point. Remember the verse. Cast your cares on the Lord, for he cares for you. I don't remember the reference but this verse is so true.



In conclusion, now that I have vented to whoever reads this blog, remember God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and that He loves you more than anything. We are more important to Him than His angels or any animal, plant, star, etc. God will provide in anyway He sees fit. Remember when life gets you down, to think and be positive. When parents start bugging you about relationships and financial issues, give it all to God. If you are meant to be in a relationship, then trust God that He will provide the perfect person for you. If you are meant to have financial stability, then God will provide the perfect job for that. Give all your worries to God. I hope and pray that this post will help people out.

Posted by Mindy
Geust blogger

The Contract

My family back in India and America are constantly hinting that I should get married. During my last visit to India I was even introduced to prospective matches. I even had friends and family try to set me up on dates and offer to pay membership costs on dating sites. I can’t forget the occasional email of a gal who they think would be a good match. All of this to get me married.

One of my friends, whose family is constantly trying to talk him into marriage says “Marriage is or has become a legalized institution of prostitution.” He says this cause he believes marriage is no longer for better or worst. There is always some thing that is a motivating factor for the marriage. Be it stability, security or a big old diamond ring.

It seems like Love प्यार is no more the reason why people get married. Today it’s more a business venture or for the tax brakes and other reasons. Most arranged marriages in my opinion are business ventures. Celebrities claim to be married but do not sign on the dotted line because their lawyers are still working out the prenup agreement even after weeks of the so called ceremony. Some time celebrities get married for 48 hrs or less as a publicity stunt. People will disagree with me about marriage being a business venture , then why is the divorce rate so high? In a business you can walk out of a venture if you’re not happy with it and the same is happening with marriage. I thought marriage was for better or worst then why is there an option out?

A wise man once told me “marriage is a contract be ready to wheel and deal do not let one party call the shots. Go into it ready to negotiate. The other party in the marriage may claim to have the upper hand but in reality on one person can call all the shots. You are a signatory to the contract and you will have a say. A pretty face does nothing and all your past achievements should be left at the door. If She/ he may portray that they still has options but do you know if they do. They may claim they had options before they signed the contract in a heated argument with you. Don’t believe it my friend for if they did why would they waste their time trying you? If their option is now a way out then they aren’t for you”

What has marriage become, just another business transaction?

What has happened to the sanctity of marriages? is it a joke where one can just walk out of if you are tired of the other person?

Has the meaning of marriage been lost?

Do we need a piece of paper to tell us love प्यार is legitimate?

Why do men/women change their Faith to get married with some one who has another religious Faith. Is it because you are in love with that person. What happened to loving your Faith. Shouldn't your religious Faith come before marriages of convenience and stability?

MUTE

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

You may not be aware of recent events, since last week the White House has been trying to control the free speech of Fox News. This really bothered me, since I feel the Executive Branch is overstepping it’s boundaries. The White house has said Fox News is not a news channel but a channel with opinions and has asked other channels not to follow suit.

The First Amendment gives the press the right to publish news, information and opinions without government interference. This also means that people have the right to publish their own newspapers, newsletters, magazines, etc. Which would mean Fox News shouldn’t be forced by the government on how they run their daily business.

Why is the White House trying to block freedom of press? aren’t there more important things to tend to?

AN UPDATE FROM THE ORPHANAGE

Dear brother We are still waiting for the Lord's miracle to put roof on our orphanage building. No one has come forward to help us.So we need more prayer regarding this.I humbly request you to uphold us in your prayers. Brother T.George Dear brother Greetings in Jesus' name.We need a special prayer support.For the past one month, all over Tamilnadu, there is a peculiar fever spreading.Our most of our orphanage children also affected.There is high fever for four or five days.Then they have body pain for about one month.All the hospitals are over crowded.Because of the body heat, they get some diahrea also.So I request you to pray for the healing and the protection for the other children.Thanking you. Brother T.George

Dear brother , Greetings in Jesus' name.In India, in the states of Karnataka, Andra Pradesh and Goa, there are flood.Many people have died.And many people have lost their houses.But in Tamilnadu, still we had no rain.We are buying water from the lorries.Because of the demand, the lorry owners have increased the rates of the water.So we are suffering much for water.Please continue to pray for us.Thanking you. Brother T.George

The Wall

This week as I spoke to my Lawyer friend about Prop 8 issue in California, I decided I would write on separation of church and state. Not knowing what I was getting into I started out to do some research. Countless of hours later and I have a piece that I myself can't understand.

I spoke to a few people about the topic and I have come to the conclusion that very few people know what the whole church and state issue is all about.

According to the few religious leaders I spoke to, they said doctrine of "separation of church and state" has been used, and is being used, to effectively drive religion from the public square. The historical perspective on church/state issues reveals a much different story. The government was to accommodate the religious communities; religion and religious expression were to be encouraged

Politicians use the church and state issue to prey on the People in America. They use religion to their advantage once elected they would like religion to stay away from politics. Religious leaders are then encouraged to recognize wisdom in politics,however Politicians can't recognize the wisdom in religion. Is religion just a way for them to gain votes?

The question today is, Can there be an absolute separation between Church and State. If the Church would leave the business of the State alone can the State stay away from the running of the day to day activities of the Church.

Where do you stand on the issue?

Our Life, Our Message

Dear Friends,
This past week we have had a lot of emails requesting who we were and why we write here. I, Neriz even had a long 45 mins conversation on a Thursday night with a friend who hoped our endeavor failed. In this post myself and Atma Nirvana will share our stories on why we write here. Sorry for the long post.

Neriz: I was born and raised in a Christian home in Mumbai India. I grew up in a wealthy family with a golden spoon in my mouth. Being the only grandchild and the only grand son I was spoilt. Just a month before I was born my grandfather passed away. The family’s employees in the family business thought I was a reincarnation of their old boss and treated him like a king. I gave my life to Christ during the Hindu-Muslim riots at the age of twelve, but fell away from Christ at the age of 17. I became a well-known and successful DJ in India and played professional soccer. The fame and fortune led me to live a loose, promiscuous lifestyle; I started drinking alcohol doing drugs. I spent several years living in the world and eventually became hopeless and being lost. I began taking pain pills to numb the pain in my life and my heart. I continued to increase the dosage and found himself addicted to pain medication. My parents were very concerned about well being because of all of the negative pressures placed on youth in India. In an attempt to protect me, my parents sent me to the United States at the age of 21. I decided to leave the world behind and rededicate my life to Christ at the age of 23.

The Lord called me to serve Him in 2003. When the Lord called him I said why me Lord, the Lord spoke to me through one of his favorite verses John 15:16. Since then I have sought the Lord's will for my life in all that I have done. I served as a Campus Minister for one of the University of Louisville programs reaching international students and worked with Bridges International, a Campus Crusade for Christ Organization. I also led a mission trip to India and served as a youth leader and was one of the founding members of Youth for Christ-Colaba Unit, Mumbai India. I currently work for a non profit in CA.

I openly sate that I sided with the Democratic Party Platform when I first came to the United States as a young man, but now support the Republican platform. The change came after I took a long hard look at the issues.

I am just a young man in the land of dreams. This is the only place where dreams become reality. “When I came to America I did not come to live the democratic parties dream or the republican parties dream but to live the American dream.” Although it may be hard for me to achieve my dream I am working towards it. I love this country and thank it for making me a better man. I ask you join me in standing for what you believe in. If you do agree with our blogs show us your support by commenting

AtmaNirvana: I was born to a single mom who left me in a government orphanage when I was two days old. Later I was adopted by an American family who had made India their home. My adopted parents were the best parents one could have and I consider myself to be lucky to have had them has parents. Although my parents were Hippies, they took good care of me and sent me to good schools and wanted the best for me, they had a very good heart. Tragedy stuck when I was seventeen years old, an Indian family took advantage of my parents kindness and duped them of all their life savings. My parents had nothing left and they committed suicide. I was traumatized by this incident and had to drop out of high school as I had to now fend for myself. I led a street life hustling for a daily bread. During this time I saw horrible things human beings did to each other. I first hand saw how Women and kids were sexually exploited. I wanted to get away from the street life and move to greener pastures.

Through my adopted parents I was considered an American Citizen and therefore my goal was to save enough money so I could move to America. When was eighteen I had enough money saved and I immigrated to America.

In 1999, I joined the Army has I felt I owed this service to my adopted country America. The Army provided me with a daily bread and money for college. In the Army I quickly made friends and most of my best buddies to this day are from the Army.

When serving in the Army I fell in love with the most beautiful woman (she wasn’t in the army) who was a Mormon. She never practiced her faith and revolted against her parents, she used to abuse drugs and alcohol, mesmerized by her beauty and love I also started abusing drugs and alcohol and I thought I was happy with her. Because of my alcohol abuse I was close to getting kicked out of the Army but one of my higher officers intervened and gave me a second chance. I was admitted into the alcohol rehab program rather than get kicked out of the Army.

Later, 9/11 occurred, I was sent to Iraq as a soldier. I was involved in several fire fights and saw one my close friend, they officer who intervened and helped me out during my alcohol abuse, die in an IED attack. During this time my girlfriend who was back in the US broke up with me; She didn’t want to be involved with anyone religious like myself. This was hardest time of my life, I felt very lonely. I always wondered why God was testing me with hardships. I wondered why God took my parents away from me, why did He take away the good officer and why did the most beautiful girl in the world break up with me. Why God why I asked? I had totally lost faith in God and gave up on him.

One day when we were on a mission to provide security in the City of Kirkuk in Iraq (The birth place of Abraham) the strangest thing happened to me. I felt the presence of Jesus, I felt immense joy, I didn’t feel lonely anymore. He told me he was always with me. I felt the presence of the Jesus in what was considered a holy land, this was the happiest day of my life. Ever since I have never turned back on life. When I returned back to the states I went to school got my Bachelors degree.

As God acts in mysterious way, I accidentally met Neriz on a bus ride to work. We shared our stories about Jesus and I loved what Neriz was doing for the kids back in India. I decided to help him with Blog. I feel Jesus has bigger plans for me. I personally don’t believe in Politics, I feel Jesus Christ love us all, both Democrats and Republicans. His Love is immense and unconditional. My adopted parents were liberals and Democrats, the officer who helped me was a Republican, Jesus Christ sent them at the right time to help me out without consideration to their political affiliations. Therefore my goal is to reach out to the unreached and spread the word of Jesus. Please share the message of our blog to your friends and family.

Chicago Or Iran

My friends and I were reflecting on the events of the last month. One of us stated “The last month has been a crazy month. Iran trying off their nuclear war heads, the earthquakes in Indonesia and the tsunami in American Samoa to top it off.” I knew what was on their mind. If there is a God, why did he not stop the natural calamities from happening? Why does he let bad things happen to good people?

As humans we need an answer to every thing. We also don’t like to take responsibility for any thing that causes a negative impact on our lives or the lives of others. We need a scapegoat, some one who won’t answer back. God is made an easy target.

We generally blame God for all the bad things that happen to us. We loose our job, why God why ? Your hybrid brakes down. What do you do, blame it on God? Your girlfriend or boyfriend dumps you, God why? Calamities around the world, blame that on God too. Could it be that things happen because of our own stupidity?

Newton stated that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. This would only mean that the disasters were connected to some major human activity. What a coincidence that Iran tested their nuclear war heads, and then we have the earthquakes in Indonesia followed by the tsunami in Samoa. It's a well known fact that testing of nuclear weapons creates shockwaves in the Earth, triggering earthquakes and tsunamis around the world.

If we did not concentrate on Chicago's bid for the 2016 olympics and rather concentrated on making America and the World a safer place from its enemies. Could all the disasters have been avoided?

Hollywood Idols

This week David Letterman disclosed in his show that he secretly held sexual relationships with young female staff members, and most of these staff members eventually got promoted to higher positions in his show.

I live in a very liberal city , I asked the opinion of some of my male and female friends about David Letterman. They stated David Letterman is a "cool and chill dude", whatever he did was just between him and his wife to deal with and not for others to discuss. I was truly amazed with the liberal double standards. Here is a person that made jokes of Governor Palin and her daughters and now has taken advantage of young interns. I tried to speak about this man's transgression to my friends and that they should not look up to him. I told them why office sexual favors is inappropriate behavior and reflects on the organization's integrity,but all in vain my friends ostracized me for speaking against David Letterman.

Incidentally this month more Hollywood vice was on the news, from MacKenzie Philips to Polanski. Why is Hollywood speaking in favor of Polanski's transgressions, is it okay to sedate and rape a 13 year old? May be in Hollywood it is okay!

So if youth in America consider Hollywood celebrities to be role models. what about youth in the rest of the world? Hollywood widely releases its movies all over the world. Youth all over the world quickly pick up the lose morals of Hollywood such has drugs, sex and alcohol causing moral decadency in society.

What has happened to parents being good role models for their kids? Why isn't Jesus Christ a good role model? Why do most celebrities oppose movies based on Jesus Christ?

America is a world leader and the rest of the world looks up to us. If the best thing that comes out of America is Hollywood, what kind of role models are we to the rest of the world?