MSA's schedule:

Courtesy of New York Times

Tensions in Afghanistan have risen after a U.S. Army sergant shot and killed 16 civilians including 9 children and 3 women this past Sunday.

This attack, one of the worst committed by a U.S. serviceman in memory, has the Afghan community outraged and seeking revenge. Many people believe that other shooters could be involved and that they should be brought to justice.

Upon hearing the news, President Obama apologized for the atrocity and promised “to get the facts as quickly as possible and to hold accountable anyone responsible.”

The day before the incident, ABC completed a survey which found that

54 percent, say the United States should withdraw its forces from Afghanistan without completing its current effort to train Afghan forces to become self-sufficient

With this event the numbers may possibly change. It may also affect President Obama’s campaign for reelection later this year.

Please share your thoughts as to the best way to proceed after this unfortunate and disturbing incident.

Do you need a quick mental break from studying for your Midterms?

Check out this spoof from Saturday Night Live where Taran Killam plays Limbaugh who is criticizing the advertisers that has deserted his show.

If you haven’t heard by now, (It’s all over the place!) Limbaugh faces backlash after calling a Georgetown University law student a ’slut’ and a ‘prostitute’ for arguing that health insurers should provide birth control coverage.

And for a view of the fallout from the Limbaugh conflab, check out the cartoon below…

Psalm 104 (NIV)

¹ Praise the LORD, my soul.

LORD my God, you are very great;
you are clothed with splendor and majesty.

² The LORD wraps himself in light as with a garment;
he stretches out the heavens like a tent
³ and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters.
He makes the clouds his chariot
and rides on the wings of the wind.
⁴ He makes winds his messengers,
flames of fire his servants.

⁵ He set the earth on its foundations;
it can never be moved.
⁶ You covered it with the watery depths as with a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.
⁷ But at your rebuke the waters fled,
at the sound of your thunder they took to flight;
⁸ they flowed over the mountains,
they went down into the valleys,
to the place you assigned for them.
⁹ You set a boundary they cannot cross;
never again will they cover the earth.

¹⁰ He makes springs pour water into the ravines;
it flows between the mountains.
¹¹ They give water to all the beasts of the field;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
¹² The birds of the sky nest by the waters;
they sing among the branches.
¹³ He waters the mountains from his upper chambers;
the land is satisfied by the fruit of his work.
¹⁴ He makes grass grow for the cattle,
and plants for people to cultivate—
bringing forth food from the earth:
¹⁵ wine that gladdens human hearts,
oil to make their faces shine,
and bread that sustains their hearts.
¹⁶ The trees of the LORD are well watered,
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
¹⁷ There the birds make their nests;
the stork has its home in the junipers.
¹⁸ The high mountains belong to the wild goats;
the crags are a refuge for the hyrax.

¹⁹ He made the moon to mark the seasons,
and the sun knows when to go down.
²⁰ You bring darkness, it becomes night,
and all the beasts of the forest prowl.
²¹ The lions roar for their prey
and seek their food from God.
²² The sun rises, and they steal away;
they return and lie down in their dens.
²³ Then people go out to their work,
to their labor until evening.

²⁴ How many are your works, LORD!
In wisdom you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
²⁵ There is the sea, vast and spacious,
teeming with creatures beyond number—
living things both large and small.
²⁶ There the ships go to and fro,
and Leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.

²⁷ All creatures look to you
to give them their food at the proper time.
²⁸ When you give it to them,
they gather it up;
when you open your hand,
they are satisfied with good things.
²⁹ When you hide your face,
they are terrified;
when you take away their breath,
they die and return to the dust.
³⁰ When you send your Spirit,
they are created,
and you renew the face of the ground.

³¹ May the glory of the LORD endure forever;
may the LORD rejoice in his works—
³² he who looks at the earth, and it trembles,
who touches the mountains, and they smoke.

³³ I will sing to the LORD all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
³⁴ May my meditation be pleasing to him,
as I rejoice in the LORD.
³⁵ But may sinners vanish from the earth
and the wicked be no more.

Praise the LORD, my soul.

Praise the LORD.

Reflection:

This is an incredible Psalm that praises God, the Lord over all creation, including the sea.He is the mighty one who assigned its place and set its boundaries.The psalmist paints an overwhelming picture of the awesomeness of God and all He has done; and then we find, He chooses us.He extends to us an invitation is to see our lives within the awesomeness of God and His awesome ways.Surely there is nothing greater.

Response:

Let’s take our time reading through the Psalm, reflecting on the reality of the awesomeness of our mighty God and all that He has done.Let’s humbly thank God for inviting our churches to live within His awesome ways and let’s pray that we would experience an even greater realization of how mighty our God is.