Latest comments for http://www.buy1-give1free.com , comment 0 to 2 out of 2 comments http://www.buy1-give1free.com Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:24:39 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.buy1-give1free.com/index.php/Our-Blogs/Could-Buy1GIVE1-help-elect-Obama.html#pc_12 Great point, Lou. And thank you. I can't help feeling that in the political sphere, stories like this are told to elicit the emotions but not necessarily the actions. But that said, I winder how we could get to the good Senators? - Paul Dunn Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:56:39 +0100 http://www.buy1-give1free.com/index.php/Our-Blogs/Could-Buy1GIVE1-help-elect-Obama.html#pc_11 Hi Paul - Interesting Blog I couldn't help but respond. Like you it appears, I have been leaning towards Senator Obama. However, my clear and decided view was recently put to question when I read and compared contributions in their own words. The candidates on their personal journeys of faith (TIME August 18th). On a side-note, these contributions were part of a larger story - How Rick Warren, writer of the best-selling book 'The Purpose Driven Life' and founder of one of the largest ministerial churches in the U.S. has a global ambition for world peace, using Rwanda as a model of a "purpose driven nation"where "the high-powered among them use their contacts to draw on resources and attract investment". I personally, would like to challenge Obama, McCain and Warren to endorse a movement like B1GIVE1 that provides access to all since purpose is driven by contribution. Every business and consumer has a contribution to make, however large or small. Anyway, I digress.. Here is the article from John McCain in TIME. If he is true to his word (or faith - I think we know each other enough to call upon :o)), the Buy1GIVE1 concept should be a "no-brainer" to him (so if you happen to read this John :o)). I think this is a powerful story that shows the simple act of giving - how it is a mindset that touches the lives in ways we would not know. If we all adopted a mindset of giving, perhaps just by smiling to a stranger and fellow human being today, this world would be a very different place: A Light amid the The Darkness - By John McCain My mother has recounted to me how when I was a prisoner of war in Vietnam, she sometimes overheard my father praying for me. He was in charge of U.S. forces in the Pacific at the time and suffered from a burden of commanding a war in a country where his son was imprisoned. As my mother recalled, she could hear my father in his study, on his knees, beseeching God to "show Johnny mercy." My father would have been surprised to know what unlikely forms God's mercy could take. In prison, my captors would tie my arms behind my back and then loop the rope around my neck and ankles so that my head was pulled down between my knees. I was often left like that through-out the night. One night a guard came into my cell. He put his finger to his lips signalling for me to be quiet and then loosened my ropes to relieve my pain. The next morning, when his shift ended, the guard returned and retightened the ropes, never saying a word to me. A month or so later, on Christmas Day, I was standing in the dirt courtyard when I saw that same guard approach me. He walked up and stood silently next to me, not looking or smiling at me. Then he used his sandaled foot to draw a cross in the dirt. We stood wordlessly looking at the cross, remembering the true light of Christmas, even in the darkness of a Vietnamese prison camp. This guard was my Good Samaritan. I will never forget that fellow Christian, and I will never forget that moment. I will always remember as well the Christmas services that my fellow prisoners and I held in that cell, when I gave thanks to God for the blessings he had granted me with the company of men I had come to admire and love. In the life of our country, faith serves the same ends that it can serve in the life of each believer, whatever creed we might profess. It sees us through life's trials. It instils humility, calling us to serve a cause greater than ourselves. At its best, faith reminds us of our common humanity and our essential equality by the measure that matters most. A living faith calls us as well to care for the most vulnerable members of society. The poor, the hungry, the stranger seeking-shelter and the child waiting to be born-all are in need of our compassion and protection. Faith shows us that the weak and defenceless are not a problem but rather a priority, and a chance for us to live out the message of the Gospels. That message can reach into any place, however dark. Even in solitary confinement, when everything else has been taken away, nothing can separate us from the love of our Creator. :) - Lou Sat, 06 Sep 2008 03:59:05 +0100