Daily Grit by Wes Thorp

What about this Florida church praying for the soul of Osama bin Laden?

Check out this Time magazine article about the Florida Catholic Church praying for Osama bin Laden's soul during services this Sunday.  What about it?  Is this right for Christian churches? 

It should be noted that Protestant churches don't pray for the dead compared to Roman Catholic, Episcopal and Anglican churches which do?  Protestants feel that once a person is dead that the fate of the deceased's soul has been decided.

Given that shouldn't churches have been praying for bin Laden all along?  What if he had confessed his sin and accepted Jesus as his Savior?  Would we see him in heaven?

Michigan taxpayers shellout $2.86 million for Elmore Leonard's "Freaky Deaky" movie

Under it's generous grants to Hollywood film producers, the state of Michigan is paying almost half the production costs for novelist Elmore Leonard's book "Freaky Deaky" as a movie.  Total bill for Michigan taxpayers is $2.86 million.

Check the details in this Detroit News story today and ask yourself the question, what's in it for us?  There are more than 200 Michigan jobs promised for the production of the movie.  These are positions with a start and end date that doesn't span more than a few months.

Shouldn't these movies that we foot the bill for have at least a commercial for tourism for the state?  Perhaps every adult resident with a television could get a free DVD of the movie.

Have Michigan leaders thrown up their hands in defeat over Detroit Public Schools?

Read this story in today's Detroit News about the new state-appointed emergency manager for Detroit Public Schools and you are left with one question:  Has the state of Michigan given-up on fixing the Motor City's school system?

The new guy, Roy Roberts, says that to save money for the troubled city schools, he's not willing to expand high school class size to 60 students as had been talked about by his predecessor.  Every teacher who has been in the classroom for more than a day knows classes should not even be half that size for effective teaching and learning.

Look at the Michigan Legislature, Gov. Rick Snyder, the Detroit newspapers and you seem to see one conclusion:  They have thrown up their hands and are punting on the learning future of Motown kids. 

What's the answer?

Will this be the best Detroit Lions team in NFL history but with nobody to play?

Check this column in today's Detroit News by Bob Wojnowski about how Detroit Lion's quarterback Matthew Stafford has recovered from shoulder surgery and how he's showing the command presence of a Super Bowl-ready NFL field general.  This could be the year for the Lions and the spark that our state needs to put some snap, crackle and pop in Great Lakes State weekends.

But, can the NFL owers and players agree on how to split team revenues? 

Just think of a Lions team in the playoffs and then the Super Bowl.  Any chances of that happening?

Our son remember's his mom on "Mother's Day" with some snappy looking roses

Right now, my wife is talking over the phone to our son in Washington D.C. who called to wish her a "Happy Mother's Day.  Yesterday, she received some really spiffy roses from him to help celebrate.  Here's a pic:

Happy Mother's Day to three women in my life, my mom, wife and daughter

There are three moms in my life who I need to give a shout out to today on Mother's Day, my mother, my wife and my daughter.  They rocked my world in their individual ways and deserve special recognition on a day where the sun's coming out even in Michigan.

As a guy, I've found it too easy to make Mother's Day mainly a "card holiday" where you wade through the crowd at the neighborhood Walgreens and get a card that brings a smile with a nice illustration and warm words that you get with five bucks or more.  This year I want to share my thoughts with the whole world.

My greetings go to my mom posthumously.  She was a difference-maker in my life and one who left a lifelong imprint on my identity.  On this blog plug her name--Frieda Thorp--into the search engine and you will find plenty about her incredible life and about a person who personified unconditional love, integrity and a strong will that would not allow her to quit even under the most extreme circumstances.  She loved God and I know she's looking at him right now in heaven.

As I've heard Gary Vaynerchuk on The Daily Grape say about his wife, my wife gives me breath.  Gladys is a gift from God.  Again, I have been on the receiving end of unconditional love and this time from her.  We've lived a lot of life together and we've filled several big airplane hangers with memories.  If living in heaven is anything like being married to Gladys, then I'm looking forward to it.  You can see her legacy in our kids and our grandson. 

This is my daughter Krista's first Mother's Day.  She rocked my world when she was born.  She's special, special, special in my eyes.  The list of Krista memories could fill a hard drive and would still bring a smile to my bearded face.  I love watching her with our grandson Xavier and with her husband Adam.  She knows the important role that mothers play and she's living it.

These are three key people in my life.  They are each gifts from God.  I love them greatly.  Happy Mother's Day to my mom, to Gladys and to Krista.

Here's how I'm weaving the "wallpaper" on my MacBook Air into my everyday life

I love seeing pictures of my grandson Xavier and me as the wallpaper on my MacBook Air, but I knew I had to change it.  After listening again to the sermon on the Cross of Christ at Ada Bible Church, the words and their importance to me jumped out.  If I wasn't way beyond the age of getting a tattoo, I'd have them permanently put in a place where I would constantly see them.  I'm going to try this as an alternative.  What do you use for the wallpaper on your computer?

Should Christians celebrate the death of Osama bin Laden?

Yet, for all of the celebratory drinks that will be downed today, and as good and needful as it is for dangerous people to be stopped, this could be a sobering moment for followers of Christ.

via beenthinking.org

When we heard the news the other night about the death of Osama bin Laden, I felt uncomfortable with the idea of celebrating.

It wasn't like those grand football days when Michigan State University beats the University of Michigan and you feel like dancing in the streets naked. A real live person was killed, a person who caused a lot of harm and suffering and who has an evil legacy that will live on.

For some perspective, check out this blog post from Mart DeHaan of the Radio Bible Class in Grand Rapids.

He raises the same questions? What should the response be for the Christian? Is it time to shout that he should burn in hell?

What if he had accepted Jesus Christ before he was killed? And what if we see him in heaven? Possible?

Because of original sin, aren't we all evil? God doesn't grade evil on a curve. Does he? We don't get rid of the evil until we say we are sorry for our sins and ask Jesus to save us.