Today there was a brief, but intense, thunderstorm here in the south-suburbs.
I happened to be at home with the kids, while my wife was out making runs with a friend, when the thunder began.  The first peal was really more of a crescendo, as it went on for several seconds (typical of rolling thunder).

All 4 of the kids rand through the house toward their bedrooms screaming.  Not surprising for the girls, who are really still toddlers, but for the boys (aged five and eight) I thought it shameful.  Especially since it happened each time the thunder sounded (about 5 times).
So in my best Super-Jihadi-Man impression I gave them a stern lecture on how fear is healthy, but allowing it to control you is not.  I even delivered what, to me, was the ultimate closing point,  Here it is paraphrased:

“All of that screaming didn’t do anyone any good.  Did you really think that someone would hear you screaming and make the thunder stop?”

When the three oldest ones all assumed very thoughtful expressions I figured that my point had been made and I almost gave a self-satisfied smirk.

But just then my 4 year old daughter spoke, and her words left me in absolute shock.  Here’s what she said:

“Daddy.  The thunder did stop though, right after we all screamed.  And you said that Allah hears everything and can do anything.  So maybe he heard us screaming and made it stop just for us.  Allah loves us just like you do and I know you would have stopped it if you knew how.”

The Wisdom of Children indeed…

He makes a very powerful statement at 4:29 regarding Muslims.  Many could learn from it.

I don’t make this stuff up.  Read here for yourself….

Major League Baseball has reportedly agreed to change the start time of the World Series to accomodate Barack Obama’s scheduled pre-election address to the nation on October 29th.

Click HERE for details.

Did you hear about this in history class?

Some of this video’s parts are disturbing, others are downright funny. You be the judge.

A thought for all of you.

Many people of the book (Muslim, Christian and Jewish) are against mortgages because of concerns over riba (Arabic for usury). However, as I have often observed, in today’s mortgage transaction, no actual money changes hands.

Let me illustrate. When a buyer purchases a property he/she gets a check for the down payment and fees and carries it to the Title company. The lender wires “funds” to the title company and the title company cuts checks to the seller and the seller’s debt holders.

But in today’s check-based and electronic transactions, no actual money changes hands.  No truck ever leaves “Bank A” carrying funds to “Bank B”.  “Bank A” simply deducts an amount from it’s balance sheet and “Bank B” adds the same amount to it’s balance sheet.

Based on my research, the prohibitions against usury and riba in the Bible and Quran refer to actual currency (i.e. shekels, dirhams, dinars, and , by extension, dollars).

So I pose the question for your consideration: If no actual money changes hands, is it truly usury (riba)?

Think over that.