Mailbag:

Trick or treat?

How fitting that President Barack Obama signed the hate crime legislation at Halloween time.

The “trick� side to the bill is that it gives special protection to powerful activist groups pushing for national acceptance of homosexuality and other perverse and unnatural lifestyles by effectively barring all from speaking out against it, putting everyone’s freedom of speech in jeopardy.

While the gay activists violently move forward thrusting their immoral beliefs onto society, those clinging to Biblical values based on God’s laws are being warned by the government and the commander in chief himself to remain silent or else face the consequences.

When signing the bill into law Wednesday, Obama spoke of the nation becoming a place where “we’re all free to live and love as we sit fit.�

I’m confused. While attending the presidential forum at Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church didn’t Obama publicly state that he was a Christian?

A Christian is one who follows the teachings and lifestyle of Christ.

A Christian is one who surrenders self will and follows God’s will.

It does not mean that you are free to live and love as you see fit; it means that you sacrificially die to self and live and love as God wills. And sometimes that means that in love, you speak up against sin in order to save those whom are lost.

Russ Niewiarowski

Newport Beach

About life and the seasons

In early spring when crocus blooms break through the crust of snow,

It’s a time that’s made for lovers, to meet, to learn, to grow.

We run across the meadows, feel the breezes in our face,

feel God’s grace upon us as we seek to find our place.

The summer is a time to learn, to drink life to our fill,

to build our families’ future, to test our strength and will.

We raise God’s little gifts to us and with trembling heart anew,

we hear each child first say the words, “Oh Daddy, I love you.�

In autumn comes the time to pause, to savor life’s rewards,

to feel beginning hurts and pains of what we’re moving toward.

We walk the woods in silence, and realize at last,

there’s less for us of future than of what’s already passed.

The time will come in winter when Gods’ great hand will come

and take us to His heaven where healing’s finally done.

Where the wind is just a whisper, where the angels always sing,

We will run again in meadows in the everlasting spring.

Randy Johnson

Newport Beach