These are a few of my favorite things

I spent a lot of time on the EWTN website yesterday. If you haven't been there, follow the link- it is a veritable treasure trove of all things Catholic. After all of the Titus Chu brouhaha, I felt the need to reconnect with the things I believe. And although I read books all across the spectrum, and derive benefit from most of them, ultimately the truths that I hold to be self-evident are simple- I believe in one God, the Father, Almighty... I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, Our Lord... I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life... I believe in one, holy, Catholic and apostolic church.

Part of the EWTN site is a huge library of their programming, both television and radio, just audio versions. It's a great source of apologetics material. And as I loaded 12GB of EWTN programming onto my hard drive, I thought about favorite books of mine. My shelves are loaded with books, I have books on top of books, and books in the attic in boxes, but there are a select number that are exempt from the attic treatment and will always have a place on the shelf of any place that I call home.

Rome, Sweet Home by Scott and Kimberly Hahn is one of those books. This is the story of their conversion to the Catholic Church and the avenues they took to get there. I first stumbled upon Scott Hahn in the late 80's, during a guest appearance on the Mother Angelica Live program. He gave an abbreviated version of his testimony and I found it very compelling. At the end of the show they flashed a toll-free number on the screen where you could get the tape of his that was making the rounds (which is now simply known as THE TAPE). Free is good, and the tape became mine, one more step on the road for me.

But not the first step. In 1988 I was about to enter my second year at Bowling Green State University. Before leaving for the fall semester I went book shopping, and one of my stops was a small store in Elyria known as The Search. The Search was a Catholic bookstore, and I wasn't Catholic at the time, but they carried Thomas Merton titles and Merton was, is and always will be THE MAN. I browsed the selections and one title caught my eye. I had never heard of the author, Karl Keating, but the title caught my fancy- Catholicism vs Fundamentalism: The Attack on Romanism by Bible Christians. Hmm. And it looked like it might have some meat to it, too- it didn't have large print and it had no pictures :) I placed my $12.95 on the counter, plus 6% sales tax, and walked out with it.

Oh, man. What a book. Karl Keating may be relegated to the back of the apologetics bus these days by the young guns who speak sharply and carry an arrogant stick, but Keating started the new emphasis on Catholic apologetics. Without Catholicism and Fundamentalism there is no Envoy magazine, there is no St. Joseph's Communications, Scott Hahn probably stays a professor at a small Catholic college in Illinois, and Catholics the world over continue to cower whenever someone asks them why they call their priest "Father". This is a very readable book which covers specific organizations and their objections to Catholicism in part one, the Scriptural support for Catholic teaching in part two, and apologetics resources in part three. If you are going to start an apologetics library on a limited budget, this is the first book to get.

Another good testimony book to get would be My Life On The Rock by Jeff Cavins. Jeff used to host Life On The Rock on EWTN, hence the name. You might think that testimony books would all tread the same water, but that isn't the case. Where Scott Hahn's book concentrates on theological matters, all the while with a personal touch, the Cavins book is a little more personal with theology on the passenger's side.

Radio Replies by Fathers Leslie Rumble and Charles Carty is a three volume set of questions and answers concerning Catholicism, which were submitted to the authors' radio show in the 40's. As such, there are a few answers which are a little dated, but there are a lot more answers which are right on the money. The print is small, and some of the answers are a little involved, but it serves its purpose as a mini encyclopedia of apologetics, organized by topic.

On the other side of the coin, there are two books that I like which purport to contain the answers to Catholicism's "outlandish" claims. Evangelical Answers by Eric Svendsen and The Roman Catholic Controversy by James White are interesting in that they have unique arguments; they aren't just cold leftovers from a cursory reading of Lorainne Boettner's Roman Catholicism (a large book which is horrible). I obviously disagree with the conclusions of these books, but I find them valuable just the same. It is better to hear the other side of an argument straight from primary sources and not just what someone thinks they said.

Check out these websites for more information on these books:
Scott Hahn
Karl Keating
Jeff Cavins
Radio Replies
Eric Svendsen
James White

Response from the church in Cleveland

The beat goes on. The church in Cleveland recently posted this letter on their website concerning the "quarantining" (read: excommunication) of Titus Chu:

An Open Response

To the Signers of the Letter of Warning Dated October 1, 2006

From the Elders of the Church in Cleveland

October 18, 2006

We feel very grieved that the action you have taken – quarantining Brother Titus Chu, his close co-workers, leading ones with them, and any who might echo their genuine concerns for the churches – is most shameful, and even worse, one which we believe is divisive. We feel especially sorrowful that you have rejected the avenue of face to face fellowship desired by us and which was requested both by our brother Titus Chu and ourselves numerous times. This course of parting which you have taken is not one which we would have ever chosen, nor can we in any way endorse, since it is one which we believe is divisive, and will separate you and us from one another and from many pure lovers and seekers of the Lord Jesus Christ. We feel very grieved that the consequences of your action will be more damaging and far reaching than what you have intended or considered.

It is very clear from your letter that there is a divergence in views and understandings regarding a number of points, none of which we consider essential to our faith, and none which warrant such a drastic action. They are items which we have felt and continue to feel need much fellowship, prayer, and searching of the scriptures together. It is unfortunate that you cannot open yourselves to such a basic scriptural practice, but instead label any who desire such fellowship as dissenters.

Your statement, “...the entire ministry of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee, which is the New Testament ministry”, expresses your understanding. While we acknowledge that the ministries of Brother Nee and Brother Lee have been vital to the churches and of great use to the Lord and His move for all believers in this age, we are compelled according to truth to acknowledge other servants of the Lord, including Brother Titus Chu, as also having a significant portion in the New Testament ministry. No minister or group of ministers in themselves equal the New Testament ministry.

Furthermore, we fully reject your assertions that Brother Titus’s labor, views, ministry, teachings and practices have caused division and are contrary to “the ministry which produced the Lord’s recovery and continues to supply the recovery and lead it on.” As you well know, Brother Titus raised up the Church in Cleveland as well as many other churches throughout our area and elsewhere. We have known him and have witnessed the fruit of his ministry and labor for 30+ years. He has consistently brought us to Christ, to His economy, to the Spirit, to the Bible, to the riches of those who have gone before, to the profound depths of the ministries of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee, to the riches in the saints throughout the churches, to the precious experiences to be enjoyed in the local church life, and we can not exhaust in such a listing the helps we have received from our brother. We definitely reject your assertion that he is divisive and believe that many of your accusations are not only false and slanderous, but your interpretations and baseless conclusions are intentionally skewed to influence the readers.

We have observed over the years, even contrary to your statements, the desire and intention on the part of certain brothers to purge Brother Titus. In one specific instance a number of years ago, Benson Phillips, in a telephone conversation with Bill Barker, stated such when he spoke very definitely of his desire to purge Brother Titus. By the action you have now taken, we know it was never in your hearts to grant our requests for fellowship and prayer to address and resolve the concerns which we detailed in our previous correspondences to you. Rather, we now understand that our points of concern left you unaffected and that you intentionally avoided responding in order to gain the time you needed to come to this point.

Because of these – your longstanding intention to purge Brother Titus, your purposeful maligning of him and his labor, certain false and twisted reasonings which are the basis of a number of your points, your rejections of our requests for fellowship, and the divisive consequences of your letter – we do not respect your current edict, issued in the warning letter of October 1, 2006, and posted on the internet, nor will we honor or adhere to its requirements.

It is our firm intention and stand to continue steadfastly in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles by holding to truth in love, acknowledging the Bible as our first and topmost authority. We will continue to love, enjoy, and embrace the writings of our brothers Watchman Nee and Witness Lee, and will continue to lead the saints we serve to know them and their riches. We will also continue to fully receive our Brother Titus Chu and his ministry, as both our doors and our hearts are open to the rich constitution the Lord has gained in him. We feel sorry that you have chosen to attempt to deny so many dear saints throughout the churches the same opportunity.

It is our sincere hope that in the future the Lord will grant you all an enlarged heart and a deep trust and confidence to the anointing Spirit within the saints, whereby they know and abide in Him and recognize and receive all the gifts that Christ in His ascension has given to His Body for our nourishment, growth and perfection.

It is signed by David R. Bixler, Timothy H. Miller, Paul B. Neider, and James H.C. Yang.

Now why do I keep banging this drum? To answer that question, let me tell you a story. The year is 1985. I am in my second year at Lorain County Community College (LCCC). One of the college organizations is a Bible study group, and in that group I meet a Christian brother named Olvin Smith. We spend a long time talking one day, and the next week he invites me to a meeting. Being the Bible study connoisseur that I am, I accept his invitation, and that evening find myself in the home of Tim and Connie Miller. We sing some vibrant songs, we share our experiences of the Lord, and we eat from the rich feast that is the Word of God. It was wonderful, and I continued to enjoy the fellowship of this group of Christians, to the point that when they extended an invitation to me to be baptized by immersion, I accepted.

Was I wrong to be baptized a second time? You know, I don't even care to visit the issue. What I will say is that a sacrament that I was too young to fully appreciate suddenly had meaning for me. Where once I had the form, I now had the reality. Not that the reality can't be known in the place where I encountered the form, but for me it was lacking, so I had to look elsewhere and carry it back.

The Tim Miller whose home became a banqueting hall is the Timothy H. Miller whose name appears at the end of the document I reproduced. I only recently heard from Tim for the first time in 20 years, but the Tim I remember is one who loved the Lord, and indeed still does. Tim isn't a divisive individual, and Titus is not one either. I'm sorry Living Stream Ministry felt the need to cut Titus off, and I hope that someday they will repent of this decision.

The Lord's Recovery

Still getting a lot of hits by people looking for information on Titus Chu. While you're here you might as well check out some other posts of mine concerning Witness Lee and the Lord's Recovery:

Three Is A Magic Number

A Cult Is A Cult, of course, of course

The Joy of Sects

Objects in mirror are closer than they appear

I had an interesting experience at the grocery store the other day. I am the type of person who looks like he is always in a hurry. When I'm eating, I'm eating fast. When I walk, I'm walking fast, even if I'm not really headed anywhere. So when people are at the store taking a survey, or taking up a collection, I walk right on by. I have learned that if you don't meet their eye, more often than not they will leave you alone.

But there is always an exception to the rule.

I am one of the least patriotic people you are going to meet. I am against the Iraq war, and seeing military recruiters at the vocational high school where I am enrolled (in adult classes) really bothered me. I didn't fly a flag on Sept. 10, 2001, and I didn't suddenly "find religion" the next day. I felt like it would be hypocritical of me to start flying one just because everyone else was, even though I had no feelings for it. You won't see a yellow ribbon magnet on my car, I won't be sporting a "We support our troops" bumper sticker... I just feel like it's too easy to say "We support the troops", but people don't often support the troops in some practical way.

A gentleman had a table set up outside Giant Eagle and he was taking donations for the Lorain County Vietnam Veterans War Memorial. I decided to talk to the guy, and after a few minutes of conversation I put a $5 bill in his jar. He thanked me and asked if I would like one of the assortment of flags or bumper stickers he had on the table. I declined. I explained to him that I didn't want to show off patriotism (I didn't explain that I didn't have any). I said that I was glad that he made it back alive, and I could see a wistful look in his eyes as he stared away, just for a second, and then thanked me. My groceries and I proceeded on the journey home, with the little paper flower I bought from a World War II veteran several months ago still wrapped around my rear view mirror.

The guy standing outside Giant Eagle that day wasn't conservative, he wasn't liberal, he wasn't from a red state or a blue state- he was a guy who most likely watched a lot of his buddies die. The elderly man who sold me the paper flower, who had to point to the enclosed explanation because he couldn't talk, who is probably close to death and wondering why Johnny bought it on the muddy battlelines in Europe and he survived- he isn't an ideology, he's a man.

Objects in mirror are closer than they appear.

______________________________

And who was wrong?

And who was right?

It didnt matter in the thick of the fight

Billy Joel, "Goodnight Saigon"

Deluge of hits

I think I've averaged 13 hits a day for awhile, but all of a sudden I got 32, and almost every one of them was from somebody looking for information on Titus Chu. Welcome aboard! I'll take hits any way I can get :)

I got this response from "Ben" in the comment section of my last entry:

i can't believe what you have said. but i do understand in some ways. this is all about Titus Chu and great lakes brothers vs LSM and the blended brothers. this will surely happen ... when opportunity comes. when bro.WitnessLee went to the Lord, some of his co-workers will surely felt "independence has come." but they have to act legitimately and within the compound of hidden agenda. well, Titus Chu and his co-horts did it. He has poisoned many to follow him. that is why about 80 churches in greatlakes area followed him ... not knowing the truth. well, here he tried to gather some followers but was stopped and discovered. well, i just think bro.Titus Chu is a great opportunist. if bro.Witness lee is alive ... he will surely be reprimanded. but that will not surely happen ... for he succeeded. But the churches and the saints are the Lord's.

Well, Ben, I'm sorry that you feel the way you do. I don't think Titus has poisoned people to follow him at all. Rather, he is being consistent with what has been taught in the recovery since time immemorial, which is that there is no hierarchy, that any attempt at a clergy and laity is participating in the teachings of the Nicolaitains. Yet what has happened with the blended brothers is the definite establishment of a clergy, a papacy if you will. Why are they so insistent that Titus Chu stop publishing? Isn't he allowed to speak his portion? The brothers say in the One Publication document that "one publication" is not an article of fellowship, yet they have made it just that. They are the ones who have established a divide between pro-LSM churches and ones who aren't necessarily loyal to Titus Chu, but believe that the blended brothers have overstepped their bounds on this occasion.

Brother Lee was one of a kind, and no one can replace him. The blended brothers should stop trying. There are only so many ways to re-state Brother Lee's ministry anyway.

When is a denomination not a denomination?

I was planning to write out this long essay dealing with current troubles in "the local church" movement (aka The Lord's Recovery, the Witness Lee group). But, being 40 now, my attention span isn't so great anymore. let me try to give the nub of the gist.

Every personality driven movement has some sort of a split after the death of the personality. When Joseph Smith died the Mormon's split; when Charles Taze Russell died the Jehovah's Witnesses split; when the leader of the pack dies then the remaining sheep have to regroup and decide how to move on.

The Lord's Recovery is no different. Witness Lee was a strong, charismatic leader who had the devotion of thousands. When he died in 1997 I predicted that within ten years there would be a major split in the movement. Well, I was wrong; it only took nine years. But split it has.

Allow me to introduce some of the major characters. On one side we have Living Stream Ministry, led by "the blended brothers", basically a council of elders or a presbytery. They run the conferences now, they produce the books and other materials, they are the show. Among them are Ron Kangas, Ed Marks, Andrew Yu, Minoru Chen and some others. On the other side we have Titus Chu and a group known as the "Great Lakes brothers." They are Recovery leaders from Cleveland, Detroit, and surrounding areas.

Living Stream Ministry, as hard as they would like to deny it, is the headquarters for the Witness Lee "denomination." They will tell you otherwise; they are just a group of co-operating brothers preparing materials for the Lord's people, and propagating the ministry of Witness Lee. BUT... they only publish the materials of Witness Lee and Watchman Nee, the churches that truly follow "the minister of the age" (i.e. Witness Lee) are the ones aligned with them, they have a de facto Bible College, the Full Time Training, where for two years young people go to immerse themselves in the riches of the ministry... they are for all intents and purposes the head of the organization. I might have been able to buy their explanations...

...but then came the release of a pamphlet entitled Publication Work In The Lord's Recovery, which contained quotes like these:

At times there may be writings among us that could be considered for publication as part of the one publication among us. As Brother Lee points out in the quote from Elders’ Training, Book above, these proposals should be “checked as to whether there might be some inaccuracy in the truth.” Discernment must always be exercised when expressing matters related to the divine truth, the divine life, and the gospel. The exercise of this sort of discernment not only protects the teaching among us and the spiritual supply to the saints; it also helps and protects those who endeavor to write. Hence, it is proper that those who endeavor to write in this way bring their work to those who take the lead in the ministry and those who take the lead in the publication work, and those who take the lead should exercise the discernment as to whether or not such proposals should be published as part of the one publication. (Emphasis mine)

Sure sounds like a headquarters trying to exercise some control over their members to me. Later on we see this passage:

Finally, all the churches and saints everywhere must understand that the matter of one publication is not a matter of the common faith but something related to the one ministry in the Lord’s recovery. The ministry is the sounding of the trumpet among us in the Lord’s recovery, and there should be no uncertain sounding of this trumpet, as Brother Lee has mentioned on a number of occasions. However, the one publication should not become the basis of our accepting or rejecting any persons in the communion of faith or in the fellowship of the churches; it should not be insisted on as an item of the faith. If any are not inclined to be restricted in one publication, these ones are still our brothers; they are still in the genuine local churches.

Remember that passage; we'll be back to it later.

Enter Titus Chu and the Great Lakes brothers. For as long as I can remember Titus Chu has been a "player" in the Lord's Recovery movement; he's been in Cleveland for years, I've heard him speak numerous times, and every time he has imparted the riches of Christ to me. I could never imagine why anyone would have a problem with him. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that there was a rift between Titus and Living Stream Ministry. This has to be something that the Internet geeks are just misunderstanding, I thought. Nope. Living Stream Ministry wanted Titus to stop publishing his books, stop leading his own conferences, and fall into line.

From June 2005 to June 2006 we wrote three serious letters to Brother Titus Chu on behalf of all the blending co-workers. These letters were the result of many years of fellowship among us after Brother Witness Lee’s departure. They were written with a view and a desire to rescue Titus and certain of his co-workers from their taking an increasingly divisive direction in their work. In the second half of 2004 many reports came to the co-workers related to problems caused by Titus Chu and his ministry, especially by the spreading of his publications with their different teachings, which brought in confusion among the churches. In March 2005 around fifty co-workers from different parts of the earth came together for fellowship concerning the Lord’s interests in His recovery. During those meetings a number of brothers stood up to testify about the problems that Titus Chu, his publications, and some of his workers were causing in the churches and in the work all over the globe. Based on those extremely disturbing testimonies, we determined to write Titus Chu to privately communicate our deep concerns to him and to plead with him to stop his
independent and damaging work of building up his own ministry in the name of the
Lord’s recovery. (A Faithful Word)

Sure sounds like they're trying to bring Brother Titus into line, even though they aren't a denomination and have no headquarters.

"He said, he said" letters flew back and forth, which I won't take time to quote from. (I will list several websites at the end which you can visit to get more information.) Rather than behaving like brothers, they seemed more like bickering boys. Then came the latest statement from Living Stream Ministry, "A Warning To All The Saints And All The Churches In The Lord's Recovery Concerning Titus Chu" (link here).

"We strongly testify that in the Lord's Recovery there is no global organization, but only the fellowship of the local churches in oneness. There is no hierarchy, but only the blending together of the saints for the building up of the Body of Christ....we solemnly exhort all the saints to join with us to mark Brother Titus Chu and those who disseminate his divisive views and his dissenting speaking, and turn away from them."

So on one hand they said that "the one publication should not become the basis of our accepting or rejecting any persons in the communion of faith or in the fellowship of the churches; it should not be insisted on as an item of the faith. If any are not inclined to be restricted in one publication, these ones are still our brothers; they are still in the genuine local churches." Yet now they are warning people to stay away from Titus Chu. Sure doesn't sound like they consider him to be a genuine brother and the Church in Cleveland to be a genuine church (in their estimation). There is no global hierarchy, but they are "solemnly exhorting" all the saints to turn away from him. They won't tell the saints what to do, but if they want to be "one with the ministry", they'll do this.

If it walks like a duck, and talks like a duck....

So what's my angle here? Do I have a dog in this fight? No, but I do have connections. I'm watching the church in Elyria and the church in Lorain, two churches who have fellowshipped together for a long time, now act like feuding neighbors on opposite sides of the fence. Brothers who once held Titus Chu in Esteem now won't talk about him. The Church In Cleveland was the place where I saw Witness Lee in person. It was the place where I was baptized by immersion for the first time (and the discussion of that can wait; it is an experience that means a lot to me).

So I solemnly exhort the brothers with all seriousness to go lock yourselves in a room, get some pizzas and some brewskis, and realize that this whole thing is just plain silly.

For more information check out these sites:
http://lastadam.com/
http://www.afaithfulword.org/
http://concernedbrothers.com/English.html
http://www.clevelandonline.org/English/framesindex.htm
http://ministrymessages.org/

Whatever you do to the least of these

My wife and I attend separate churches. That isn't today's topic, but just bear with me. There was a time when we were searching for a church to attend together, which was difficult enough when it was just the two of us, but when you add two kids with developmental disabilities? Forget about it. One church took our son into the preschool classroom (this was a couple of years ago), but asked us to take him out because he wasn't toilet trained. Others just flat out told us that they weren't prepared for kids with special needs. Others didn't say that in so many words, but their examples showed us that they weren't. My response to them, unspoken because at heart I am an absolute wuss, is that if you aren't prepared for them then you aren't prepared for me.

It isn't much of an issue right now because my wife's church is plenty prepared to deal with special needs kids. I wish I could say the same for Catholic churches. I would love to bring my children to Mass someday, but only if there is some sort of cry room or other means of keeping my kids from being a distraction. And I don't even want to hear about cry rooms not being "liturgically correct" (as if your polka masses are). Forget the abstract theories and live in the real world for a change.

There are families out there who have children in wheelchairs, children with developmental disabilities, children with Tourette's syndrome or Down's syndrome or other syndromes which don't have P.R. firms or telethons assigned to them yet, and the last thing they need is to have their situation relegated to a sentence in a parish council report or a footnote in an academic journal. These people aren't being rebellious. They aren't trying to circumvent the rules. The fact that someone may want a different type of host for their child who would choke to death on the regular kind doesn't mean that they are going to declare themselves to be John Paul III the next day. These people are hightailing it out of the Catholic church and the Methodist church and any other church where their children are met with stares instead of snacks, with whispers instead of welcomes. And all I have to say is...

More power to them.

Seriously.

Here's what I've been thinking about doing. I've been needing some more blog material anyway, so I might as well run with this. I'm going to start contacting churches. No, Ma, I'm not in the hunt. But I'm curious as to how many churches I can find that are prepared to deal with children with disabilities. I'm performing a public service. I'll let you know how it goes.

Detroit Rock City

Detroit Tigers beat the evil empire, baby! Only eight more wins to go to take the Series and become World Champions!

"You don't win games with A-Rod! You don't win games with A-Rod!" (Sean paraphrases more songs from The Simpsons as he does a victory conga dance around the living room)

The Anchor Bay Experience (postscript)

I got a nice e-mail from Barbara Fowler this week, and she told me that James Gambino is an assistant principal at Sterling Heights High School in Michigan. So I found the website, dropped him a line, and he wrote me back as well. It was kind of surreal, hearing from both authority figures who suspended me 25 years ago.

I also asked myself this week why I have dwelt so much on my three years in the Anchor Bay school system. I guess it's because there was never any closure for me. I was a jerk (I had a much stronger word in store, but I won't be printing it), but I started to turn around after going on a retreat in 1981, the story of which I talked about in my very first blog entry last year:

My teenage years held the same changes and challenges that teens still face- all of a sudden I was overwhelmingly concerned with what people thought of me (they didn’t think much), I became painfully aware of my own shyness, and I despaired of ever finding a girlfriend. And boy oh boy, were girls ever a part of my consciousness. For whatever reason my parents decided to send their depressed, chronically shy son on a teen retreat styled after the Marriage Encounter event. This retreat was a turning point for me. I started talking to people, who couldn’t believe that I was shy. I went to Mass with these people and for the first time in my life it held some meaning for me. This 1981 retreat was also where I met my very first bonafide Jesus Freak. Ted Thiry ate, slept, breathed and drank Jesus Christ. That intrigued me. He wore a t-shirt with the Resurrection Band on the front. Now I was on top of popular music at the time, but I had never heard of this “Resurrection Band”; however, since Ted couldn’t go three words without saying “Jesus Christ” in a non-cursing manner I figured it had to be a religious thing. Ted even used phrases like “Jesus saves.” Jesus saves? That’s not something you hear at Mass every day. I was drawn to Ted’s energy and what seemed like his love for me. The end result of attending this retreat was that I wanted to know about Jesus Christ. If Jesus was more than a fancy picture in a Children’s Bible, if he was more than the body on the
crucifix, then I wanted to know.

I started to become a decent person in my last couple of months of ninth grade, but we moved over the summer, so I never got the chance to salvage my reputation. I wonder quite frequently how things would have been different had we stayed in New Baltimore. Would I have broken out of my shell? Would I have started dating? The world will never know.

I also got another nice e-mail this week from Leslie Kaye, talking about my Anchor Bay essay. I realize now that even though I don't get nasty and blog about politics, and even though I don't get nasty and blog about religion, I have my place in the grand scheme of things. There is a purpose to my writing, even if the purpose is to make girls cry :) (Inside joke.)

You just never know when something you say or something you do is going to affect someone, so it pays to play nice and share your toys.