Mysterious Ways

We spend so much time fighting God instead of allowing Him to work.

His ways are mysterious and beyond our comprehension.

We put so much effort into trying to put human qualities to Him. That does nothing but limit our faith, which limits our ability to see Him working in our lives.

Yet opening up to Him is one of the scariest things we can do, as it means giving up control. And control is one of the most precious things to a human being.

It is but one way in which we must give ourselves up, so that we can be the most we can be.

Because only in Him can we be all that we are designed to be.

Michigan Seeking to Punish Recycling Smugglers

For over thirty years Michigan has had a program of offering ten cents back for cans and bottles.

It began as a way to promote recycling and has been massively successful.

However, people have been abusing the system and coming in from other states to get more money.

To fight this the state had added a stamp for cans from Michigan.

This still didn't stop the "smugglers" and so now the state is considering more drastic action.

A bill, currently in the state house, would give the state the ability to charge and arrest people who bring in other states cans.

Under the bill, bringing in between one hundred and ten thousand nonreturnable containers would be punishable by up to ninety-three days in jail and a thousand dollar fine.

Six Strikes Your Off

AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Time Warner, and Verizon have announced their participation in a program created by the Center For Copyright Information.

Under the program anyone who is caught infringing on copy right will be sent a warning.

If someone receives six warnings, they will immediately find themselves with either severly limited or no internet access.

The companies involved believe that if someone refuses to change their ways after all of the warnings, then clearly they're not going to.

Opponents of the program worry that it will hurt the ability of businesses to offer wifi.

A similar program is set to begin March 2014, in the UK, but with only three strikes.

Hero Rats

A Belgian company is training rats to be mine detectors.

Apopo teaches the rats to sniff out mines so that humans can then come and remove them.

Training takes place in Tanzania, during a nine month long program.

They have been tested in Mozambique to great success.

People there are calling them Hero Rats.

Advantages of the rats are that they are quick workers, as they naturally use their nose to navigate due to their limited eye sight; they can be used by any trainer, not becoming bound to one, like dogs; they are light enough that they can't accidentally set off mines; and they are relatively cheap.

Unfortunately there are some draw backs, such as their short life span, their lack of ability to work in certain climates, and they sometimes require retraining.

Egyptian Opposition to Boycott Election

Egypt's opposition has announced that they will boycott the parliamentary elections.

An alliance of non Islamic parties united together to make the announcement.

Their goal is to take any legitimacy from the vote.

They believe that the election is already rigged, and that it would be impossible for them to beat President Morsi's people.

With the alliance out of the election, only Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood and more extreme Islamic parties.

The alliance says they will take part in the vote if new laws are passed to help guarantee free and fair elections.

Balloon Crash in Egypt Kills 19

Nineteen people were killed when the hot air balloon they were in crashed.

Almost all of those aboard were international tourists.

It apparently caught fire about ten feet off the ground and the flames made it rapidly gain altitude, before it burned itself to the point that it came crashing down.

The pilot and one of the passengers were able to jump out almost immediately, at a low enough altitude to survive.

Other passengers jumped out too late or were killed by the fire and crash.

All balloon flights have been cancelled while the incident is being investigated.

USMC Staff Sergeant Jonathan D. Davis

USMC Staff Sergeant Jonathan D. Davis, thirty-four, of Kayenta, Arizona, died on February 22.

Davis was a member of the Navajo nation.

His unit was conducting combat operations, in the Helmand province of Afghanistan.

He was assigned to Headquarters Battalion, 32nd Georgian Liaison Team, Regimental Combat Team 7, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expedition Force, Camp Pendleton, California.

Sergeant Davis had been with the Marine Corps since 1997 and had served in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Among his awards are: Purple Heart, Combat Action Ribbon, Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, NATO Medal ISAF Afghanistan, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and Global War on Terror Expeditionary Medal.