On God, Ice Storm 2K7, and Plagiarism

Some time ago I signed up for an online newsletter for Christian Women, called “Right to the Heart”. It’s a valuable e-zine that has thought provoking questions and wonderful ideas for women’s ministry to apply to your local church if desired.

The current issue has a question (in an article) that really ‘got me’. It’s from the editor of the e-zine, Rebekah Montgomery. I don’t know a lot about her. I do know her writing inspires me and draws me closer to God.

Here are her words…and the question:

“I recently had a disappointing setback in my ministry. Seeking the Lord's face, He brought this question to my mind: ‘If you never ministered again, what difference would it make it make in our relationship?’”

I stopped and thought about my own personal answer to this question. She goes on to compare Biblical accounts and she sums up with this:

“…let me ask you this: Are you a "spiritual gold-digger?" Are you only using God like a good luck charm to bless and prosper your life and ministry? Or do you love Him with all your heart, soul, and mind?”

I pray God would reveal any areas of my life that are more self-serving than God-serving. I pray he would reveal even the hidden sin that keeps me from Him.

In other news: My sister is seeking continued prayer support from all the prayer warriors out here! Prayer changes things…we’ve all seen it. There truly is power in spoken prayer…and it honors God.

And finally…I am honored (and a bit irritated) to reveal: my blog has been plagiarized. I was informed by an email from someone who came upon a ‘myspace’ whose writing didn’t fit with a certain entry. The women ‘googled’ the first line of the entry and my original post came up.

I don’t know the ins and the outs of these issues. I went to the site, left a kind message thanking her for the honor but reminding her to honor my request to ask permission to copy my entries…and that her personal online journal was only as authentic as her entries. I then notified the ‘powers that be’ at myspace.com. Aside from that I don’t know what can be done. I attempted to return to the entry later in the day when I never received a reply and she has since ‘blocked’ all uninvited readers from her site.

As I stated above it is an honor to be copied…especially a post that to me was not even that great. I laughed for some time as I thought about what the purpose of this space is (for me) and how my own journey…my own words…would be ‘stolen’ by another person. I know we have similar lives…I had no idea just how exactly similar they are!

Weather update: Streets are slowly clearing. Oklahoma had a total of 14 fatalities directly attributed to this storm…auto and fire related. I am scheduled to start my new job some time today!

Have a Wednesday full of ministry opportunity!