Fact, fiction or opinion?

Every man has a right to his opinion, but no man has a right to be wrong in his facts. - Bernard Baruch

I have been challenged a lot lately to define what I believe and why I believe it. This issue has come before me now on several occasions and I find myself wanting to really know the answer(s).
Many of us are products of our environment and how we were raised; what our parents said or did.
Many believe to be fact everything we were taught in public school.
Sadly, there are many who even believe to be fact anything taught from a pulpit or a Sunday school podium.
None of the above cited sources are always factual. Much of the teaching on all issues has been tainted by opinions over the years.
I am beginning to understand more and more why the Bible tells us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. Not to be afraid but with a reverent fear.
Know your source.
Know your facts.
Fiction has its place and I enjoy it at times.
Opinion...well you know the saying...everyone has one!
I have been so guilty at times for jumping on a band wagon or a soap box without all the facts in place; a humbling experience to say the least when you realize, "I think I may have missed it!" Ouch.
We have a friend whom we have affectionately dubbed the "Grammar Nazi". This person hates the misuse of words. I totally understand that although I have been guilty myself of butchering the English language on occasion.
What I have come to realize even more so is how important it is that not only do we use the words properly, in the right context but that the message be properly conveyed and the facts be in place. Big words are of no use if they are only a platform to make one think we know what we are talking about when in reality we have not checked the facts.
Much of science is not fact based either, by the way, yet another blog....

Someone shared with me how some people of varied ethnic backgrounds ( I am not fond of the word "races" but that is a different blog too!)have the tendency to feel trodden upon due to the fact that certain historical people are portrayed as "white" or "black" or whatever....

I decided I wanted to know more so I dug in.
I found that Santa Claus has European origins so he is not entirely wrong to be portrayed as "white". Although I believe no skin color is "white". If they are truly white they are probably dead...I digress once more~
I found that the pharaohs of Egypt were of Macedonian decent and were not truly Egyptian therefore, they were most likely olive skinned.
I found that Cleopatra was the last Pharaoh to rule! and she was not beautiful the way she has been portrayed in movies. She had quite the soap opera life. Who knew! I didn't.
Jesus? Most likely olive skinned as well. I realize many portraits show him to be "white" but they are only ideas. No one really knows what he looked like. We all have ideas based on what the Bible says but no one knows for certain.
The bottom line is we need to have a quest and a hunger for truth.
I believe that all truth is rooted in the Word of God. Written by men but inspired by God.
No one can be pulled down by someone else unless they allow it to happen.
We all have skeletons in our closets.
We all have had hardships to overcome.
We, here in America, have been given amazing opportunities to achieve. It is merely a matter of choices.
I want to make positive choices.
I will make mistakes.
I will be sidetracked again, I am sure, for I am human.
But I plan to be more consistent in being informed before I accuse, blame, or whine.
Before I sit down and quit.
Before I open mouth and eat toe jam...again...
:0)

new life, new year, new hope,

Isn't it amazing how new life can make so many things around us seem new?
New Year...
isn't it just another day?
but for some reason psychologically we believe it is an opportunity to wipe out past wrongs, worries, habits,
and embrace a whole new chance for a clean slate,
a fresh start.

My friend, Carrie, just gave birth today to her and Patrick's second son, Grant.

"I love these little people, and it is not a slight thing when they who are so fresh from God, love us." - Charles Dickens' Old Curiosity Shop

What an awesome way to view a baby...
"they who are so fresh from God..."

Little Grant is so tiny and pink and flawless.
So fresh from God.
A breath of fresh air in a world of staleness.
A glimpse of hope that God has not given up on us just yet.
A reminder that His grace can cover a multitude of sin...
flaws...
imperfections.

new hope...
new life...
a new year.