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OpEd
Old board’s complaint
is not unlike our own
I’ve been screening in my porch.
It will be a nice place to sleep when
hot weather comes. It will be a nice
place to drink morning coffee and
write.
One has to understand that my
little house was built in 1893 or so.
The main part of the house is very
solid. But the back porch was one of
those additions that gets added on to
old houses. The porch exhibits a
sort of afterthought quality.
Part of the problem is how the
porch’s roof was supported. It
would be more correct to say the
problems relate to how the roof’s
lumber was not supported.
One can see examples of this
construction style on many old
houses. The roofline sags. One wall
leans this way a little bit. Another
wall leans that way a little bit. The
whole thing sits cattiwhompus.
My porch has two open sides.
One side is 10 feet long. The other
side is 18 feet long. The 10-foot
side had a support at either end. The
18-foot side had a support at either
end, and one in the middle.
Both rooflines sagged. The roof
lacked proper support. The 18-foot
side was almost comical in its sag
giness. I didn’t know how comical it
was until I stretched a level string
line and measured. The roof sagged
more than 7 inches in the middle.
We have all seen trees sway in
the wind. The tree that sways will
live. Wood has the ability to bend
. and give to suit the circumstances.
Bending is a tree’s survival mecha
nism.
But wood also has its own way
of getting stuck in a rut, so to speak.
I wondered what would happen
when I jacked up the lumber in the
middle of the roof. Would the sag
ging boards break?
Gravity is a mighty strong force
Ethics & Religion
Covenant marriage
an insurance policy
Sharon Samuel felt trapped.
On Valentine’s Day, 1998 she
and her husband Guy, signed legal
papers with 50 other married cou
ples at First Presbyterian Church
in Baton Rouge, La., committing
themselves to a more binding
“covenant marriage” in which they
waived their rights to a quick “no
fault” divorce, and agreed that if
their marriage ever got in trouble,
they would seek counseling to
save it.
And instead of being able to
have a divorce within six months
of living separately, they had to
remain apart 18 months.
Further, the person wanting out
would have to prove that their
spouse had committed adultery,
been physically abusive, habitual
ly intemperate or convicted of a
felony.
At the time she saw covenant
marriage as “an insurance policy,”
a backup plan if something were
to go wrong in their 15 year mar
riage.
By November 1999, however,
Sharon recalls feeling, “Oh God,
what have I done? I want this to be
over, now!”
Their marriage had a high
degree of conflict and both
acknowledge they had poor com
munication skills.
She filed for separation. He
moved out, but not far away so
that he could have the kids ten
days a month.
They both began seeing a
counselor, as required by law.
Sharon wasn’t optimistic. They
had tried counseling before. But a
new counselor helped her and Guy
to become healthier individuals, to
resolve their anger and heal their
pain.
Guy says he realized that the
issue was “self-will me, my, I
and not looking at the other per
son. We had arguments over what
I wanted, rather than doing what
God would want me to do."
JHB David
Clark
for an unsupported 2x4. The sag
was the wood’s habit.
I set a floor jack in place. I set a
supporting timber on top of the jack,
and lined it up with the middle of
the sagging roof. I raised the jack. I
kept one eye on my string-line. I
kept the other eye on the roof tim
bers over my head.
Those old boards had grown
accustomed to sagging. They did
not want to move. I tried talking to
the old boards: “It will be far better
for you to be lined up straight with
the world. It will actually be far less
work holding up a level roof than
one that sags so much.” Those old
boards didn’t care what I thought.
The boards groaned and cracked
and popped. I’d jack up the roofline
a bit, and then measure the progress.
Quarter-inch by quarter-inch, the
roofline came closer to reaching the
level string-line. The boards
squawked the whole way up.
What impressed me was where
the sounds came from. The wood in
the middle where it sagged the
most made the most racket. The
wood that most needed correction
raised the strongest objection to
change.
David Clark’s work can be
heard online at http://www.mp3-
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America" is available through
Amazon.com search under
"Popular Music ” for David Clark.
Write to him at P.O. Box 148,
Cochran, GA 31014, or via email at
dclark @ accucomm. net.
They came to this realization
one week after six months of sepa
ration.
“If we had a conventional mar
riage, we would have been
divorced,” he told me. They began
dating and he moved back in four
months later. Today both are very
happy.
Sharon smiles, “We are resolv
ing conflict quicker and are
putting God first in our family. We
are trying hard to follow God’s
plan.
“My husband is working hard
at loving me sacrificially as Christ
loved the church. I am working
hard to love him sacrificially. We
read Scripture together. We go to a
couples Bible study and are doing
Bible studies separately. I meet
with ladies, and he with men.”
The insurance plan worked. As
Guy puts it, “Covenant marriage
protects the institution of marriage
from hasty behavior. It protects
people from themselves. I’ve
talked to people who divorced, but
now think it was not right.”
I thought of their story when I
heard that Arkansas passed a
Covenant Marriage Law this past
week.
It was a top priority of Gov.
Mike Huckabee who said in his
State of the State speech, “While
there’s little government can do to
save marriages, there are legiti
mate steps we can take.”
“We propose giving couples
the freedom to choose a higher
level of commitment by allowing
them to enter into covenant mar
riages.
“Couples choosing covenant
marriages will take extra steps of
preparation for a lifelong commit
ment by attending pre-marriage
counseling sessions ... In addition,
these couples will agree that if
their marriage should ever run into
trouble, they’ll seek marriage
counseling before divorces will be
granted.”
Even now, the people still don’t believe
Nestled against the mountainside
the little white church was a beacon
to passersby. The steeple reached
high up the mountain and could be
seen for miles and miles. The peace
and serenity of the small chapel was
evident as the people entered the
ornate hand carved doors. Above our
heads the artist had captured many
scenes from the Bible and we were
in awe of the magnificent sanctuary.
Another day we traveled for
many hours to reach a monastery
that had existed for 1,600 years. The
artists and artisans of the area had
built and designed beautiful furni
ture, stained-glass windows, magnif
icent statues. Elaborate fabrics and
tapestries hung from the walls and in
this setting, a remote, poor farming
area, was a gorgeous a place of wor
ship.
As our minds slip from place to
place on our travels we see the mag
nificence of cathedrals, churches,
‘Hostage crisis’ will show how tough Bush is
WASHINGTON When is a
hostage crisis not a hostage crisis?
When the Bush White House
convinces the media not to call it
one. As I write this, China is holding
24 American servicemen and ser
vicewomen hostage. There is no
doubt about the reality of the situa
tion: The 24 are not free to leave;
they are being held against their
will; they are being forcibly detained
by armed Chinese soldiers.
Yet George Bush does not want
to call them hostages. Why?
Because George Bush does not want
a hostage crisis on his hands. He
does not want TV news to start
headlining shows: “Chinese Hostage
Crisis Day 14!”
Up until now, things have been a
breeze for Bush. All he had to do
was tell a few jokes and reporters
would split their guts laughing and
then go back to their newsrooms and
write stories about how successful
Bush’s “charm offensive” was.
True, the stock market has been
in a nosedive. True, John McCain
beat Bush like a drum recently in
getting a campaign-finance bill
opposed by Bush through the
Senate. And, true, Bush until quite
Mike WBT
McManus WBL
My question to clergy and hap
pily married couples across this
nation is this: why aren’t you ask
ing your legislature to pass such a
bill?
My state of Maryland consid
ered covenant marriage. I testified
in favor of it, as did a representa
tive of the Catholic bishops.
But where were the Baptists,
Methodists and Jews, the Naza
renes and Assemblies of God?
Nowhere to be seen. The good
people who say they believe in the
Bible and “God’s first institution”
were AWOL.
Oddly, the bill’s sponsor didn’t
even vote for his own bill. The
Judiciary Committee, packed with
lawyers who make plenty of easy
money from no-fault divorces,
happily let it die.
That’s happened in a score of
states which have considered
covenant marriage.
There’s another scandal about
how the law is operating in
Louisiana. Only 4 percent of cou
ples getting married there are
signing up for fortified marriages.
Do the other 96 percent want a
marriage license written with dis
appearing ink?
No. A Gallup Poll revealed that
two-thirds did not know a
covenant marriage law had been
passed.
Why not? Three-quarters got
married in churches. Why didn’t
the pastors urge couples to request
a covenant marriage?
*“I hate divorce,’ says the Lord
God of Israel,” according to
Malachi.
Mike McManus is a nationally
Syndicated columnist.
chapels and monasteries. We move
from place to place in our minds
from corner to corner in our home
towns and where we live now and
the most beautiful of buildings are
our places of worship. They attract
our attention with their high steeples
and the serenity that shows even in
the bricks and mortar.
“But the people couldn’t believe
...” and many still don’t!
A huge crowd of visitors will
descend upon churches this Sunday
and especially next Sunday. People,
children to be more exact, who have
not been to church since Christmas
eve will wonder why they are there
at all. Palm branches will be handed
out in many churches to celebrate
the triumphant entry of Jesus into
Jerusalem. But, many won’t remem
ber the story or why they carry the
palms and, “the people couldn’t
believe” even though they have all
the facts.
Roger
Simon
recently has not had to face any real
world crisis that would test his pow
ers of judgment.
The Chinese are demanding an
apology for the plane incident, an
apology they do not deserve and
Bush says he will not deliver.
But Secretary of State Colin
Powell did express “regret” that a
Chinese pilot died in the collision
with the American spy plane.
Will this expression of “regret”
eventually be considered an “apolo
gy”? We don’t know. But words are
important in such matters. Which is
why Bush refuses to call our
hostages hostages.
Powell got close to doing so
when he referred to them as
“detainees,” but so far Bush hasn’t
even called them that. He wants to
pretend this crisis is not a crisis.
Since the hostages are in good
health and being treated reasonably
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FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Sunday, April 8,2001 I
But people continue to seek. The
rich and the poor, the well to do and
the lowly of state continue to seek
the truth of a story that has survived
and grown stronger with time. The
places of worship, magnificent and
timely, remind us that the story of
Christ is real and can be believed.
His entry into Jerusalem marked a
time of confusion even for his own
disciples. Everyone questioned his
motives and the reasons for his
actions that were contrary to cus
toms of the day.
“But they couldn’t believe!” The
church leaders could not believe that
the man who captured the love and
devotion of thousands, could heal
the sick with a word or a touch,
could cause blind eyes to see; they
could not believe that he was wise
with his words and could read their
hearts and their minds, and that he
was fulfilling the prophesies.
You see, it is the same today.
well, there is not a huge amount of
pressure on Bush to obtain their
freedom immediately. This will
change as the days go by, but so far
late-night comics can still joke about
the situation.
“Today Pentagon officials said
they were worried that the Chinese
might get a look at all of the top
secret surveillance gear that was on
the plane,” Jay Leno said Tuesday
night. “Hey, all of our electronic
stuff was probably made in China in
the first place!”
Which is not that far from the
truth. China is one of our major trad
ing partners. But the trade is mostly
one way. We buy much more from
China than China buys from us.
How much more? About SB3 billion
more last year.
Why? Because we make it easy
for China to sell goods in the United
States, and China makes it very dif
ficult for U.S. companies to sell
goods in China.
So China is vulnerable to U.S.
counter-measures. And Bush has all
sorts of other options he can use if
he wants to get tough on China. He
could oppose China’s entry into the
World Trade Organization; he could
Julianne
Boling
“Their eyes cannot see, and their
hearts can’t understand.”
People cannot believe what they
cannot see. People can believe that
air exists even though they can’t see
it. They believe in sound waves, heat
waves and that germs exist, even
though they cannot see them. How is
it that they can see the gathering of
so many people to churches on Palm
and Easter Sundays in celebration of
the life, death and resurrection of
Christ and still not believe he is
worth seeking?
Julianne Boling is a Cumming
resident who writes a weekly col
umn.
oppose China hosting the Olympics;
he could sell sophisticated radar
equipment to Taiwan.
As for now, however, Bush has
chosen a slightly less provocative
path: He is holding up an order for
Chinese-made hats.
That’s right: hats.
You may remember the recent
flap when the U.S. Army decided to
issue every soldier a black beret.
Since the elite Rangers already wore
black berets, they objected.
So the Army decided to give the
Rangers tan berets, instead.
Why not let the Rangers keep the
black ones and make everybody else
wear tan ones? Because the Army
had already ordered 2.6 million
black berets from a number of coun
tries, including China.
Now, however, the United States
is holding up the Chinese beret
order.
Bush’s message is clear: “Give
our 24 people back or we won’t buy
your hats!”
And who said George Bush
wasn’t mean enough to be presi
dent?
Roger Simon is a nationally syn
dicated columnist.
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