Up until now I would not have thought so but after I read this article I began to see things differently: thankfulness in tribulation
The story is very good and includes ideas and thoughts that everyone could use to dwell on this time of year. We wake up tomorrow and it will be a new calendar year, a clean slate if it were, an opportunity to have all things new. We must remember to not see our problems and situations as the world sees them but rather through the eyes of our faith. I pray you a happy New Year.
Our God is all around, it is up to us to ask to see Him,
Friday, December 31, 2010
Friday, December 24, 2010
My Favorite Christmas Song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zR9-PA64KUM
This day I remember the good news about Christmas, Christmas is a reminder that at some point in history God so loved the world in all its sin and error that He sent us His only Son so that Son would be in our care, just an infant and we would raise him up and he would live with us, joke with us and cry with us. That Son later created the bridge in the form of a cross that would forever more make a pathway to God’s door, never to be blocked. To me this is the celebrative reason for this season. We were given a gift so fine, so pure and so simple that we can live a lifetime and still not mentally intake it all. A gift to bring us home, to the loving arms of the One who created us and placed us here on earth. Please read Psalm 139, we have all been there and we have all done things that the person next to us could judge unforgivable but I am thankful that only He is the true judge and He has said, “It is finished.” Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
Peace .
This day I remember the good news about Christmas, Christmas is a reminder that at some point in history God so loved the world in all its sin and error that He sent us His only Son so that Son would be in our care, just an infant and we would raise him up and he would live with us, joke with us and cry with us. That Son later created the bridge in the form of a cross that would forever more make a pathway to God’s door, never to be blocked. To me this is the celebrative reason for this season. We were given a gift so fine, so pure and so simple that we can live a lifetime and still not mentally intake it all. A gift to bring us home, to the loving arms of the One who created us and placed us here on earth. Please read Psalm 139, we have all been there and we have all done things that the person next to us could judge unforgivable but I am thankful that only He is the true judge and He has said, “It is finished.” Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
Peace .
Friday, December 17, 2010
The One Thing I Want For Christmas
It’s Christmas Time and What Will You Celebrate?
It has been a long time since my last post and much has taken place in our world. The Russians are now best friends with the Chinese and Iran races to acquire a nuclear bomb, guess we know what they want for Christmas ;-)
I have been busy working around my home adding things to my survival preps and food stocks. My wife and I continue to talk about what is happening in our world and how we see it through the eyes of our faith. We watch people like Jack Van Impi and Hal Lindsey and they smile from ear to ear almost bounding out of their seats and insisting that Jesus is coming very soon. This idea makes us very happy. While we love living here on earth and enjoy the world God has created we are not blind to the evils of humankind and we see the great injustices continually perpetrated upon the poor and defenseless of this world. Jesus IS coming soon and to a manger near you. I do not want to sound funny but it is true given the calendar day and time of year.
There is much around us that can so easily draw our attention away from the true meaning of the season, Jesus. The Holy bible tells us that God “found” favor with Mary, so much so that He sent an angel to greet her and not just any angel. This was an Arc Angel – Gabriel and his job is to be at the side of God’s throne. It strikes me that God thought so much of Mary and what were going to happen that He made a very big deal of it. He gave Gabriel a special message, Mary was with God’s favor, not that she had done anything special to warrant it but that God had chosen to give it to her. God chooses to give us all something, we may not see it but there is something and in His eyes and heart we warranted being saved and Jesus was sent to us as a babe lying in an animal’s food trough. Why did God feel He had to go so far into poverty? Why did God believe that Jesus had to be born through illegitimate parents, away from their families and treated as though they were street people? I will not pretend to read God’s mind but what I see in it is that no sign or means of wealth status was given to Jesus. In some part of our world that means a lot to many people.
He is the redeemer King and friend of all who the world has cast out of its societal circles. Jesus is soon to be lying in the manger once again under someone’s tree or atop their television within a manger scene and once again He will allow Himself to be identified with those who are shunned and told by the world that they do not count and that they should just go somewhere else, “the inn is full.”
Jesus is our living present and gift given by a loving Father and God to all of us who are blessed and fortunate to have been awakened by the spirit of God through the workings of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is once again brought to the level of a defenseless infant who cries of hunger and dirty diapers, needing our attention. “Our attention”? Yes, our attention, yours and mine. It is our charge put upon us by the Holy Spirit to care for and nurture this Holy infant child who lives now in the manger of our hearts. We must feed Him with our time and clothe Him with our praises of gratitude. He waits to be washed by our tears and dried with the soft touch of our heart’s embrace. Jesus is the meaning and gift of this season, let us celebrate as Mary did and sing to God, you know the words…don’t you? My soul gives glory to the Lord and my spirit shall rejoice in God my savior, for He who is mighty has done great things and Holy is God’s name.
It has been a long time since my last post and much has taken place in our world. The Russians are now best friends with the Chinese and Iran races to acquire a nuclear bomb, guess we know what they want for Christmas ;-)
I have been busy working around my home adding things to my survival preps and food stocks. My wife and I continue to talk about what is happening in our world and how we see it through the eyes of our faith. We watch people like Jack Van Impi and Hal Lindsey and they smile from ear to ear almost bounding out of their seats and insisting that Jesus is coming very soon. This idea makes us very happy. While we love living here on earth and enjoy the world God has created we are not blind to the evils of humankind and we see the great injustices continually perpetrated upon the poor and defenseless of this world. Jesus IS coming soon and to a manger near you. I do not want to sound funny but it is true given the calendar day and time of year.
There is much around us that can so easily draw our attention away from the true meaning of the season, Jesus. The Holy bible tells us that God “found” favor with Mary, so much so that He sent an angel to greet her and not just any angel. This was an Arc Angel – Gabriel and his job is to be at the side of God’s throne. It strikes me that God thought so much of Mary and what were going to happen that He made a very big deal of it. He gave Gabriel a special message, Mary was with God’s favor, not that she had done anything special to warrant it but that God had chosen to give it to her. God chooses to give us all something, we may not see it but there is something and in His eyes and heart we warranted being saved and Jesus was sent to us as a babe lying in an animal’s food trough. Why did God feel He had to go so far into poverty? Why did God believe that Jesus had to be born through illegitimate parents, away from their families and treated as though they were street people? I will not pretend to read God’s mind but what I see in it is that no sign or means of wealth status was given to Jesus. In some part of our world that means a lot to many people.
He is the redeemer King and friend of all who the world has cast out of its societal circles. Jesus is soon to be lying in the manger once again under someone’s tree or atop their television within a manger scene and once again He will allow Himself to be identified with those who are shunned and told by the world that they do not count and that they should just go somewhere else, “the inn is full.”
Jesus is our living present and gift given by a loving Father and God to all of us who are blessed and fortunate to have been awakened by the spirit of God through the workings of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is once again brought to the level of a defenseless infant who cries of hunger and dirty diapers, needing our attention. “Our attention”? Yes, our attention, yours and mine. It is our charge put upon us by the Holy Spirit to care for and nurture this Holy infant child who lives now in the manger of our hearts. We must feed Him with our time and clothe Him with our praises of gratitude. He waits to be washed by our tears and dried with the soft touch of our heart’s embrace. Jesus is the meaning and gift of this season, let us celebrate as Mary did and sing to God, you know the words…don’t you? My soul gives glory to the Lord and my spirit shall rejoice in God my savior, for He who is mighty has done great things and Holy is God’s name.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Knowing my need
I read something today that spoke about my discovering my point of need. That when it becomes clear to me that I am not the source of all that I need, that I must reach out and ask for help, then help will come. What kind of help would it be that I cannot give to myself, I ask? Have you found that answer for yourself yet?
I read this reflection today and looked over the scripture readings in the Message version of the new testament. I found there what it was that I cannot supply for myself. It is the making of the new me. The new me that God said would be done for my good and for the good of my friends and family. The new me would reach out to others in ways I do not know how. The new me would look different and talk different and would not hold grudges against others for their wrong doing against me. The new me would allow others to not only find a new friend in me but reach out of the wounded person that emerged from the world (me) and become someone that I only dreamed of being. I ask you, have you become new? Do you want to? Everyone tells themselves that they are just fine the way they are and no need to change. Change is painful and brings only discomfort and with that uncertainty. "What will I become with this new change, who will I become and will others still accept me?"
Does it always have to rely on what others think of us? Should it? If the ones closest to us truly love us and they do, then when we open ourselves to a new life will they not change with us? Maybe they want to change too? Maybe they are waiting for you to make the first step and that will give them license to move also?
Read here: http://www.myutmost.org/10/1006.html
Read scripture here: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians%201:%2014-17&version=MSG
As is always heard by the slogan on Niki - Just do it!
I read this reflection today and looked over the scripture readings in the Message version of the new testament. I found there what it was that I cannot supply for myself. It is the making of the new me. The new me that God said would be done for my good and for the good of my friends and family. The new me would reach out to others in ways I do not know how. The new me would look different and talk different and would not hold grudges against others for their wrong doing against me. The new me would allow others to not only find a new friend in me but reach out of the wounded person that emerged from the world (me) and become someone that I only dreamed of being. I ask you, have you become new? Do you want to? Everyone tells themselves that they are just fine the way they are and no need to change. Change is painful and brings only discomfort and with that uncertainty. "What will I become with this new change, who will I become and will others still accept me?"
Does it always have to rely on what others think of us? Should it? If the ones closest to us truly love us and they do, then when we open ourselves to a new life will they not change with us? Maybe they want to change too? Maybe they are waiting for you to make the first step and that will give them license to move also?
Read here: http://www.myutmost.org/10/1006.html
Read scripture here: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians%201:%2014-17&version=MSG
As is always heard by the slogan on Niki - Just do it!
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Are there some things worth hating?
Luke 14:26 (The Message)
Figure the Cost
25-27One day when large groups of people were walking along with him, Jesus turned and told them, "Anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go of father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sisters—yes, even one's own self!—can't be my disciple. Anyone who won't shoulder his own cross and follow behind me can't be my disciple.
Jesus stated this passage in another way that many are familiar with but do not like to contemplate.
Luke 14:26 (New International Version)
26"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple.
In today's reflection of My Utmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers, Oswald states that if there are places within us that are still hardened, still stubborn. Places inside us where we still believe we are right and they are wrong all of the time, places where we are quick to anger and slow to forgive then those are places where Jesus has not shined his gaze. When Jesus told the rich man to sell everything and follow him scripture states that he looked upon the man in a loving way. Are there places within you that have changed, that are no longer stubborn? Places that are now kept vacant for the Son of Man? Are there places in your mind where you no longer pretend to know all things but have settled down to the realization that what you knew was of the world and now it has been cleaned blank by the hand of God. Those places are now reserved for the hand of Jesus to right on. Then you too have discovered that you can hate something. You reject the world's influence, you reject the dictates of society and no longer strive for the most toys but instead seek austerity because it no longer feeds your soul. You are on the right path my friend, you are feeling his loving gaze.
Figure the Cost
25-27One day when large groups of people were walking along with him, Jesus turned and told them, "Anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go of father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sisters—yes, even one's own self!—can't be my disciple. Anyone who won't shoulder his own cross and follow behind me can't be my disciple.
Jesus stated this passage in another way that many are familiar with but do not like to contemplate.
Luke 14:26 (New International Version)
26"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple.
In today's reflection of My Utmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers, Oswald states that if there are places within us that are still hardened, still stubborn. Places inside us where we still believe we are right and they are wrong all of the time, places where we are quick to anger and slow to forgive then those are places where Jesus has not shined his gaze. When Jesus told the rich man to sell everything and follow him scripture states that he looked upon the man in a loving way. Are there places within you that have changed, that are no longer stubborn? Places that are now kept vacant for the Son of Man? Are there places in your mind where you no longer pretend to know all things but have settled down to the realization that what you knew was of the world and now it has been cleaned blank by the hand of God. Those places are now reserved for the hand of Jesus to right on. Then you too have discovered that you can hate something. You reject the world's influence, you reject the dictates of society and no longer strive for the most toys but instead seek austerity because it no longer feeds your soul. You are on the right path my friend, you are feeling his loving gaze.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Vote and Pray
http://www.libertyaction.org/319/petition.asp?rid=22258394&PID=&P=1&Ref_ID=3986#N1
Hello and good afternoon, this link will take you to a video that is well put together. The idea being put out by the video is Pray and Vote. At this point in time we are very near the November 2 elections. These elections will either create a grid lock government and Obama will be stopped in his tracks or the progressives will plow forward with their communist agenda. We as God loving and respecting Americans can ask Him for all the help He can give us but it will be our feet that will take us to the voting pole. It will be our mind that considers who we believe to be the best candidate both locally and nationally. It will be our hand, yours or mine that will feed that voting ballot into the counting machine. We must do our part in order for God to do His. We cannot afford for America to sit home and wait out another election again. This November is critical. Please consider watching the video at the linked page and consider using it to pass along to friends and neighbors to encourage people to get out and vote. If two people reading this e-mail and watching the video change their minds and get out and vote on November 2 because I sent out this e-mail then that is all that I can ask.
We must become active, at this point in our country's history approximately 50 percent of registered voters exercise their right as American citizens and vote. That means to me that back in 2008 half the country sat home and let the other half decide their fate for them. I say fate because nothing is on automatic pilot here. Not everyone who goes to Washington has the same morals and values that you and I may have. We must realize that in this day and age more Americans do not attend church. They do not actively pray or invest in a relationship with God. They may seem to be friendly and helpful to most but they have no respect for the lives of the unborn or they do not see the harm that is being done to our society by allowing guidelines of moral and sexual decency to decay. That may sound narrow minded or old fashioned to some of you but I believe in it and stand by it. Each decade since the turn of the twentieth century our country's moral decline has been obvious and not going in a "level of higher mental superiority" but rather in spiritual and intellectual decline. Who could have thought twenty years ago there would have been people who made and produced a movie called "Jackass" 1 and 2? Who would have thought that in the state of Rhode Island that it would be legal for girls of the age of 16 to work in strip clubs and pole dance? Bathing suits are required until they reach 18 but still, they can take the bus home from school and do their homework and out the door to do the shimmy shake and earn a few bucks...I'm sure they are all saving up for that college education ;-)
Folks, this is your country as much as it is mine and we need to take back the management and oversight of what our society turns in to. Please tell your friends they are needed on November 2nd. Also, if you have not looked in to early voting let me tell you and Lola and I took advantage of it in the primary last month and it is great! Check with the Supervisor of Elections office and look for an early voting place nearest you and take advantage of the short lines and convenience of voting early. We are paying for it with our tax dollars we might as well use it to change the face of America. Thanks for listening and please pass along the information. Vote, it is still your right, preserved for you within the Constitution of the United States of America, your right to choose self governance, we are the only country in the world like this. We must protect it.
Lou.
May you have a Jesus filled day
*******************************************************************************
"Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you: Jesus Christ and the American Soldier. One died for your soul; the other for your freedom. " Author Unknown
Though defensive violence will always be 'a sad necessity' in the eyes of men of principle, it would be still more unfortunate if wrongdoers should dominate just men. Saint Augustine »
Mother Teresa, Roman Catholic nun
"It's the greatest poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish."
"The people of the United States are the rightful masters of both Congress and the Courts, not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution."
-Abraham Lincoln (17 September 1859, speech in Cincinnati, OH)
"There comes a time when one must take the position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must do it because conscience tells him it is right." — Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King
Hello and good afternoon, this link will take you to a video that is well put together. The idea being put out by the video is Pray and Vote. At this point in time we are very near the November 2 elections. These elections will either create a grid lock government and Obama will be stopped in his tracks or the progressives will plow forward with their communist agenda. We as God loving and respecting Americans can ask Him for all the help He can give us but it will be our feet that will take us to the voting pole. It will be our mind that considers who we believe to be the best candidate both locally and nationally. It will be our hand, yours or mine that will feed that voting ballot into the counting machine. We must do our part in order for God to do His. We cannot afford for America to sit home and wait out another election again. This November is critical. Please consider watching the video at the linked page and consider using it to pass along to friends and neighbors to encourage people to get out and vote. If two people reading this e-mail and watching the video change their minds and get out and vote on November 2 because I sent out this e-mail then that is all that I can ask.
We must become active, at this point in our country's history approximately 50 percent of registered voters exercise their right as American citizens and vote. That means to me that back in 2008 half the country sat home and let the other half decide their fate for them. I say fate because nothing is on automatic pilot here. Not everyone who goes to Washington has the same morals and values that you and I may have. We must realize that in this day and age more Americans do not attend church. They do not actively pray or invest in a relationship with God. They may seem to be friendly and helpful to most but they have no respect for the lives of the unborn or they do not see the harm that is being done to our society by allowing guidelines of moral and sexual decency to decay. That may sound narrow minded or old fashioned to some of you but I believe in it and stand by it. Each decade since the turn of the twentieth century our country's moral decline has been obvious and not going in a "level of higher mental superiority" but rather in spiritual and intellectual decline. Who could have thought twenty years ago there would have been people who made and produced a movie called "Jackass" 1 and 2? Who would have thought that in the state of Rhode Island that it would be legal for girls of the age of 16 to work in strip clubs and pole dance? Bathing suits are required until they reach 18 but still, they can take the bus home from school and do their homework and out the door to do the shimmy shake and earn a few bucks...I'm sure they are all saving up for that college education ;-)
Folks, this is your country as much as it is mine and we need to take back the management and oversight of what our society turns in to. Please tell your friends they are needed on November 2nd. Also, if you have not looked in to early voting let me tell you and Lola and I took advantage of it in the primary last month and it is great! Check with the Supervisor of Elections office and look for an early voting place nearest you and take advantage of the short lines and convenience of voting early. We are paying for it with our tax dollars we might as well use it to change the face of America. Thanks for listening and please pass along the information. Vote, it is still your right, preserved for you within the Constitution of the United States of America, your right to choose self governance, we are the only country in the world like this. We must protect it.
Lou.
May you have a Jesus filled day
*******************************************************************************
"Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you: Jesus Christ and the American Soldier. One died for your soul; the other for your freedom. " Author Unknown
Though defensive violence will always be 'a sad necessity' in the eyes of men of principle, it would be still more unfortunate if wrongdoers should dominate just men. Saint Augustine »
Mother Teresa, Roman Catholic nun
"It's the greatest poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish."
"The people of the United States are the rightful masters of both Congress and the Courts, not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution."
-Abraham Lincoln (17 September 1859, speech in Cincinnati, OH)
"There comes a time when one must take the position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must do it because conscience tells him it is right." — Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Are you waiting for the Tsunami?
http://escapetyranny.com/2010/09/17/listen-carefully-home-depot-founder-explains-why-obamanomics-is-such-a-disaster/
Small business owner and co-founder of Home Depot talks on CNBC Squawk Box about government imposition of new laws and regulation on the small business owner. He paints a picture filled with truth and stark reality. We can no longer stand back and turn a blind eye to what is happening in our country and our government. People are losing jobs each and every day, businesses that should not fail are being closed because of current or coming tax regulations which puts people out of work. This is not about Left isle or Right isle politics, this is about gaining our country back. Listen to this man and what he has to say. The reason and purpose is to wake up more Americans to the reality that our government has gone a muck and needs to be pulled back. We cannot stand on the shore waiting for the tsunami to wash over us, this is about our families and our future and theirs. Please look at this and pass it along to as many as you can. We must become vigilant at the ballot box. We must become educated as to the things that drive this country, we must not sit out another election, another opportunity to change the course of this country. This is our future and to those who would stay at home and check the H.B.O schedule and turn a blind eye, we cannot reach them, they have decided to ride the backs of those who make decisions for them. To me that is the most pitiful and apathetic way to live life. We are never promised a life of leisure and we are not promised a life of bliss. What we do have is an opportunity to pursue...pursue joy and happiness. We are given an opportunity, that is a gift, to shape our way of life, to shape our government, to shape the way of life our children will have. This is a gift that should not be wasted.
Lou.
May you have a Jesus filled day
Small business owner and co-founder of Home Depot talks on CNBC Squawk Box about government imposition of new laws and regulation on the small business owner. He paints a picture filled with truth and stark reality. We can no longer stand back and turn a blind eye to what is happening in our country and our government. People are losing jobs each and every day, businesses that should not fail are being closed because of current or coming tax regulations which puts people out of work. This is not about Left isle or Right isle politics, this is about gaining our country back. Listen to this man and what he has to say. The reason and purpose is to wake up more Americans to the reality that our government has gone a muck and needs to be pulled back. We cannot stand on the shore waiting for the tsunami to wash over us, this is about our families and our future and theirs. Please look at this and pass it along to as many as you can. We must become vigilant at the ballot box. We must become educated as to the things that drive this country, we must not sit out another election, another opportunity to change the course of this country. This is our future and to those who would stay at home and check the H.B.O schedule and turn a blind eye, we cannot reach them, they have decided to ride the backs of those who make decisions for them. To me that is the most pitiful and apathetic way to live life. We are never promised a life of leisure and we are not promised a life of bliss. What we do have is an opportunity to pursue...pursue joy and happiness. We are given an opportunity, that is a gift, to shape our way of life, to shape our government, to shape the way of life our children will have. This is a gift that should not be wasted.
Lou.
May you have a Jesus filled day
Sunday, June 20, 2010
I'm reminded it's not about me
This morning I looked at a reflection: http://www.myutmost.org/06/0620.html
The scripture and the reflection brought to my mind that it's not all about me. Sort of takes the wind out of my sails to acknowledge that. My ego does like to be pumped up on the idea that I am the total focus and attention of my heavenly Father but today I see differently. Today I am reminded and well that I was that it isn't all about me. Job went through much trail and loss and as Oswald Chambers illustrates things turned when Job began praying for his friends. That would be very hard for me because I tend to focus on the problem and stay wanting to find a solution. I do become exhausted at times and when that happens I put down my fists (spiritually speaking) and I tell the Lord I am done, I give up and I don't really care what happens from there on.
Today I will try to keep my focus more on what I believe is important in God's eyes. To think more about others around me versus only me. To remember that if I'm in hard times then so are so many others. That I am blessed that my God wants a relationship with me and that I enjoy that relationship because Jesus made a way, he became the atonement for my sin. I will do my best today to remember to pray for others that they too would accept the atonement Jesus paid so that all of us will have a relationship with God our Father.
Happy Father's Day God, Happy Father's Day Jesus, Happy Father's Day Holy Spirit, amen.
The scripture and the reflection brought to my mind that it's not all about me. Sort of takes the wind out of my sails to acknowledge that. My ego does like to be pumped up on the idea that I am the total focus and attention of my heavenly Father but today I see differently. Today I am reminded and well that I was that it isn't all about me. Job went through much trail and loss and as Oswald Chambers illustrates things turned when Job began praying for his friends. That would be very hard for me because I tend to focus on the problem and stay wanting to find a solution. I do become exhausted at times and when that happens I put down my fists (spiritually speaking) and I tell the Lord I am done, I give up and I don't really care what happens from there on.
Today I will try to keep my focus more on what I believe is important in God's eyes. To think more about others around me versus only me. To remember that if I'm in hard times then so are so many others. That I am blessed that my God wants a relationship with me and that I enjoy that relationship because Jesus made a way, he became the atonement for my sin. I will do my best today to remember to pray for others that they too would accept the atonement Jesus paid so that all of us will have a relationship with God our Father.
Happy Father's Day God, Happy Father's Day Jesus, Happy Father's Day Holy Spirit, amen.
Monday, June 14, 2010
I don't believe any of them
My rant on the Gulf of Mexico - our president & BP: We the people are being taken for a ride by both sides of this play act. BP gave Obama one of his biggest campaign contributions during the election & now he wants to put them out of business? Yea...Right! BP does not want help from anyone who offers biodegradable and environmentally friendly methods to clean up the oil and keep all volunteers away, only BP employees for clean-up. The government is acting the same way. Did anyone view Huckaby on Fox News last night? People with clean-up technology that is years old for cleaning spills but BP and the government will have no part of it. BP watches from a mile above the ocean floor and only sees the oil cloud grow larger by the day. Obama goes golfing, has a snow cone and speaks about how two faced and forked tongue large corporation C.E.Os can be (something about a pot and a kettle comes to mind). This whole mess is starting to look like neither side wants to clean up the mess and both sides intend to clean up at the bank.
Don't forget that every heavy weight contributor to Obama's campaign from ACORN to SEIU to the United Auto Workers Union has been on his payback list and we have seen him pay them back with our money, I believe this whole debacle will in months to come turn clear and we will see how these people sought to ruin our planet, economy, our patriotic spirit and willingness to fight back.
Obama and crew are quickly overwhelming this country and its ability to respond to natural disasters what will be next...terrorist attacks? How about financial speed bumps where they make a bank holiday and close down the banks ( in fear that the public will withdraw too much money). I do not believe BP blew up their rig but I do believe Rahm Emanuel who said a good crisis should never be left to go to waste. It is an opportunity to do things you couldn't normally do. Watch both hands people, watch what both hands are doing, they talk fast and prey on our patriotism, our love of God and love of nature. They are opportunistic vultures only thinking of what and how they can gain for themselves while everyone else attempts to tread water.
Don't forget that every heavy weight contributor to Obama's campaign from ACORN to SEIU to the United Auto Workers Union has been on his payback list and we have seen him pay them back with our money, I believe this whole debacle will in months to come turn clear and we will see how these people sought to ruin our planet, economy, our patriotic spirit and willingness to fight back.
Obama and crew are quickly overwhelming this country and its ability to respond to natural disasters what will be next...terrorist attacks? How about financial speed bumps where they make a bank holiday and close down the banks ( in fear that the public will withdraw too much money). I do not believe BP blew up their rig but I do believe Rahm Emanuel who said a good crisis should never be left to go to waste. It is an opportunity to do things you couldn't normally do. Watch both hands people, watch what both hands are doing, they talk fast and prey on our patriotism, our love of God and love of nature. They are opportunistic vultures only thinking of what and how they can gain for themselves while everyone else attempts to tread water.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Waiting for George
Today, rather this evening, I watched the Glenn Beck program and his topic was about George Washington. I have heard Glenn speak about this many times and maybe you have too. The issues and problems going on in our country today are to say the least, distressing. It seems more and more, week by week, sometimes day by day we are introduced to a new level of stripping of our constitutional liberties and freedoms. President Obama continues to wax on about how he is turning the economy of this country around, that soon if we give him more power through new laws soon he will put this country back on track. My question for this is, what track is that and toward what kind of destination?
I look in the news paper and view the local political stories and I wonder who will be the county commissioner, the mayor, the governor that will lead with strength and with conviction. Rubio, Crist, who will be our next Senator. When I look to the gubernatorial race I see McCollum and I see Rick Scott, which one will be the conservative leader that will lead our state out of this recession (depression)? We are all looking out to the horizon line wondering where we as a society are headed. China owns us up to our neck, Greece is erupting each and every day because their economical system has become overloaded with giving out too many benefits such as state wide retirement at age 52 with at least 80% of your salary coming back to you monthly for the remainder of your days.
North Korea or Iran would very much like to lob a small nuclear missile our way and detonate it in our atmosphere to create an Electro Magnetic Pulse which would ONLY disrupt the electrical grid for at least half of the continental United States and throw us back into the horse and buggy age overnight. Biological warfare is now being looked at for the next decade and leaving nuclear weaponry behind. Nuclear weapons, yeah, we don’t want to blow up buildings and make holes in the earth, let’s create bacteria and disease that were not natural to the creation of the earth. Let’s create something and spread it around and no one but God alone will be able to destroy it.
Glenn Beck looks for another George Washington, someone who has principals and courage. A person who has conviction and yet humbles himself to bend a knee to the Lord our God, the God of the Hebrews; someone who is open to the leading of the Holy Spirit someone who is willing to forego bribes and power grabbing. We want a knight in shining armor, George rode upon a white horse and he was never ever wounded in battle yet his clothing sustained multiple bullet holes. We are looking for a knight of a different sort today one that will charge after the cheats in finance and beat them at their own game buy shutting down the laws that allow them to manipulate our money to suit their financial benefit. We hunger for a person who will speak to us in everyday language and will tell us the way things are. As a society we say we want the truth when in fact, taking a quote from a movie,”truth, you want the truth? You can’t handle the truth!” What are we to do then, how can we move forward and regain what the socialists have so patiently and lawfully taken away from us, that is what really burns us up inside isn’t it? That they did it legally and right out in the open and the country as a whole stood by and stated that none of those socialist/communist things could happen here in America.
As for me God has shown me that I can lead my life in my own ways and that is what free will is about. God has also shown me that if I want to lead others in ways of truth and goodness, in ways of healing and of justice then I need to pay attention to His ways because He –God created healing and justice, He created truth and goodness, He is truth and goodness and all of the ways and behavior that are what mankind agrees are virtues and attributes worthy of all humanity to take notice. When truth speaks the heart knows and the spirit of a person is moved internally, there is a harmonic vibration that resonates with truth. Why do we need to wait for a George Washington? We must become George Washington; we must become Abraham Lincoln or Martin Luther King Jr. If we desire people of principle then we must become what we desire because to wait for someone else to be that for us only puts power into that person’s hands and that could prove to be dangerous. It worked well for George because no one was looking for him; no one said from the day of his birth that he would be a man of greatness and that he would be the first president of the greatest symbol of freedom and liberty on the face of the earth. The only country where Jesus is openly worshiped and where people of all faiths, color, backgrounds and economic level can be equal because as Americans we all place our hand on our heart and pledge our allegiance to this great Republic and to the people of this great nation. We are it; we are the outpost of freedom in this world. Without us, without America in this world darkness will pervade, it will act as a blanket and smother those looking for liberty and justice, for freedom from fear. Darkness will have won.
Jesus showed the whole world that He overcame death. He got up and walked out of a cave after being dead three days and showed himself to his closest friends to allow us to see that there is nothing on this earth that is stronger than He. He is love of the highest level and nothing can destroy love. George had love, the special kind of love that burns in a person’s soul. A love that can keep you awake at night because you are driven to succeed with your mission.
Do not take for granted that others in Washington fight for the same causes you do and do not willfully give over your hopes and dreams to someone who seems like a new George Washington. God only made one of those and for good reason. He was a man whose life was meant for a lifetime of a country and we can learn from his experiences. Only Jesus of Nazareth is the person who we are to put all our hope and faith into and He will not disappoint; all others are only creations of God who carry in them a spirit of Christ Jesus and it is that spirit that our spirit longs for. As a moth to a flame, so are our spirits drawn to the Spirit of Christ Jesus and when we encounter a person who radiates a glimpse of the Spirit of Jesus we believe them to be our savior, our hero, our knight in shining armor coming to our rescue. Do not be fooled and do not give away your hope so cheaply and easily. You too can obtain the Spirit of Christ Jesus inside of you but you have to ask Jesus for it and you must give over your ambitions and desires for His ambitions and desires and yes Christ Jesus has some but we will save that for another letter.
Be the hero, be the truth bearer and make your corner of the world stronger and greater by being a reflection of the one who is truth. Be the leader that your family needs or your town needs, we must not stand and wait for someone to come and do it for us, that is not the way of Christ. The way of Christ is to be a light bearer and bring His spirit forth into the world ourselves to show the power of God. To show that we do not have to be rich or powerful or persuasive, those ways are the ways of the world. A true messenger of the truth is of common looks and plain upbringing. God will use those whom the world calls foolish so that the Miracle of God can and will be seen by all.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Who's fight are you fighting
Is your social life a just one?
Jesus stated to some that the Kingdom of God is at hand. Some, He stated, were not far from the Kingdom. When we think of a kingdom we naturally think of a material, two dimensional places that we can drive to, walk to and live in. What if what Jesus was talking about and what we think are different? Wouldn’t be the first time, would it?
The next time you hear someone speak about the goodness of “social justice”; when you hear them depict that there are good players and bad players, good characters and bad characters think back to how Jesus taught. He did not set one group of people against another. He only pointed out their lack and what was needed to be done about it and from what source they would find the answer. He lives to point us toward our Father not an IRA, 401K or new Lexus. Jesus does not seek to show us how to harbor ill feelings toward those God our Father has blessed with the ability to create wealth. How those individuals divide up their spoils is between them and God, and they are answerable only to God just as we are answerable only to God about the gifts we have been endowed with (1 Cor : chapter 12). If a person gains through thievery, then they should answer to the law. If the laws are bad, then we need to work in our government to create better laws that are more in alignment with God’s law. It is not our place to sit in God’s seat and cast judgment over someone because of what we see on the outside. Thankfully God knows our heart and will judge us rightly and with compassion and mercy because He IS compassion and mercy.
Be careful my friends and look for Jesus in your heart and in Heaven. Do not look to create Heaven on earth because that is not God’s plan for us. Jesus will return one day and set foot on the Mount of Olives, and that is when the New Kingdom will be established, but not by human hands and not outside of God’s purview. A mindset that sets up good guys and bad guys is nothing other than the devil getting to our basic instinct to see ourselves in the place of those poor abused people, and we transfer ourselves into their shoes and it makes us want to fight back because we are healthy, fed and prosperous. The devil plays with us like pawns on a chess board, and he knows it. The devil is someone who knows your buttons and knows how to make you howl and bear your teeth. The devil is the lord of war in this world, and he brings death along with him (Rev 6:8 KJV).
Know whose fight you’re fighting.
Till we meet face to face or in God’s house,
Saturday, March 6, 2010
I made those calls...did you?
Hello and good morning, I am enjoying a day off from work and found this e-mail from Americans United for Life. I began Tuesday making phone calls to our Senators and Congressman pertaining to the health care reform bill. Today's e-mail message lists just another reason why this legislative monster is objectionable. However your beliefs pertaining to abortion this bill is the largest grab for control into our personal lives in U.S. history. At this point of the argument of the bill I will not debate on the issue of abortion as say whether or not this is an immoral act (for Lola and I it is). The bottom line is - should the United States government have the power to take your tax payer dollars and apply it to something that millions of Americans feel and believe an objection to on many levels? If a woman wants to abort a living, innocent, defenseless life living inside her womb that is between her and God and I am fine with allowing God to be God in that situation. What I do not feel is constitutional or legal is for the government to decide what is best to do with my money while disregarding my voice as a voter and tax payer.
Please watch the two minute video: http://blog.aulaction.org/2010/03/04/video-urgent-message-from-aul-action/
Please pass it along to others who feel the same way. Our voices need to be heard by our elected officials - even the President. The media presents the President as some sort of celebrity when in fact the office of President is a public servant position that is provided for by tax payer dollars and is issued public housing. The President is to be the decision maker in some cases but so is congress, there is to be a system of checks and balances to where one governing person or body does not diminish the other. As of this point as exemplified by the health care summit from last week even Chris Matthews of MSNBC commented that President Obama disrespected many of our Senators and Congress people by ignoring any points brought up that were in conflict to his agenda. In the end of the summit President Obama stated that the time for debate is over and that a decision must be made to move the bill forward. Dozens of political polls report every week the desire or interest in a public option health care plan is being rejected by the American people and the minority has now become the majority. We have something here that is larger than passing a public option health care bill, we have a President who ignores what you the American tax payer and legal citizen wants and is set on achieving his own agenda.
This is no longer the United States of America it is the United States of Obama. We are at the precipice where if we sit quietly and silently go along to get along our liberties will be stripped from us one by one. The President and F.B.I have already moved to extend conditions of the Patriot Act where they can (at will) choose who's cell phone they will monitor without the permission of a court order or warrant. While George Bush moved for this and initiated it and many objected, the Obama administration has chosen to keep it in tact and continue to violate the right to privacy when and where they so choose. It's about abortion and it is about so much more. This whole bill is constructed in such a way that the State gives the power and the privileges and the rights of the individual are ignored. Look at Govtrack.US under 3200 for the house version of the bill, the Senate version is only a few hundred pages smaller but has the same essential language. Taking away your individual rights and turning them over to the State government. It is not a boogie man scare tactic, it is reality. People ignore this because our society has become conditioned to believe only stuff like this happens in the movies, well, life is stranger than fiction and our government has gone a muck.
If you are opposed to abortion support Americans United for Life in what ever way you can. Make a telephone call to your Senators and tell them you are in objection to abortion being paid for with your tax dollars. Sitting by while knowingly allowing the government to use our money for this while we personally find it objectionable still makes us culpable because we know that it is going to happen and we sit and do nothing about it. At least if we protest and make telephone calls and write e-mails we are exercising our legal means to stop it. If those elected officials proceed against our wants and desires and can say in our prayer time to God that we have done all that we can do then the blood is literally on their hands and not ours.
We must raise the roof with our government and let them know they are not celebrities but elected officials who's jobs are paid for with tax payer dollars and they are in fact answerable to us (their employer) just as you are answerable to your boss whomever that may be. We accept a job position and understand that we are there for eight hours to serve them and not ourselves and they will pay us for our labor. Elected positions are the same, we vote them in but for the reason of being our elected agent with the authority to carry out our wants and desires, not their own. No one hires someone and pays them to just do whatever you want when you want and how you want. That makes absolutely no sense. Our employees are walking away from their job responsibilities and heading in essence to the break room or wherever they go to do what they want on our dime.
It is our responsibility as their employer to give them a corrective interview, to label out for them where they have not fulfilled their duties as an employee and list how we want them to correct the errors and misjudgments. If we are not doing this then the failure of our political and economic society cannot be held to them but to us. God has blessed this nation with opportunities for liberties that no other country on earth enjoys, not in the same ways we do. God has blessed us with the opportunity for self government and self elected leadership. To ignore this and allow it to go up in a ball of flame is like flicking God the bird and saying, "so what, who cares, it doesn't affect me in my life, I never asked for it and don't want it." Good stewardship also entails assuming and acting out in a responsible way and exercising our rights and privileges afforded to us by the people who fought and died to claim it as our own.
Stand with your neighbor and with me, let our elected public servants know they are missing the mark.
God's blessings to all of you,
Lou
May you have a Jesus filled day
Please watch the two minute video: http://blog.aulaction.org/2010/03/04/video-urgent-message-from-aul-action/
Please pass it along to others who feel the same way. Our voices need to be heard by our elected officials - even the President. The media presents the President as some sort of celebrity when in fact the office of President is a public servant position that is provided for by tax payer dollars and is issued public housing. The President is to be the decision maker in some cases but so is congress, there is to be a system of checks and balances to where one governing person or body does not diminish the other. As of this point as exemplified by the health care summit from last week even Chris Matthews of MSNBC commented that President Obama disrespected many of our Senators and Congress people by ignoring any points brought up that were in conflict to his agenda. In the end of the summit President Obama stated that the time for debate is over and that a decision must be made to move the bill forward. Dozens of political polls report every week the desire or interest in a public option health care plan is being rejected by the American people and the minority has now become the majority. We have something here that is larger than passing a public option health care bill, we have a President who ignores what you the American tax payer and legal citizen wants and is set on achieving his own agenda.
This is no longer the United States of America it is the United States of Obama. We are at the precipice where if we sit quietly and silently go along to get along our liberties will be stripped from us one by one. The President and F.B.I have already moved to extend conditions of the Patriot Act where they can (at will) choose who's cell phone they will monitor without the permission of a court order or warrant. While George Bush moved for this and initiated it and many objected, the Obama administration has chosen to keep it in tact and continue to violate the right to privacy when and where they so choose. It's about abortion and it is about so much more. This whole bill is constructed in such a way that the State gives the power and the privileges and the rights of the individual are ignored. Look at Govtrack.US under 3200 for the house version of the bill, the Senate version is only a few hundred pages smaller but has the same essential language. Taking away your individual rights and turning them over to the State government. It is not a boogie man scare tactic, it is reality. People ignore this because our society has become conditioned to believe only stuff like this happens in the movies, well, life is stranger than fiction and our government has gone a muck.
If you are opposed to abortion support Americans United for Life in what ever way you can. Make a telephone call to your Senators and tell them you are in objection to abortion being paid for with your tax dollars. Sitting by while knowingly allowing the government to use our money for this while we personally find it objectionable still makes us culpable because we know that it is going to happen and we sit and do nothing about it. At least if we protest and make telephone calls and write e-mails we are exercising our legal means to stop it. If those elected officials proceed against our wants and desires and can say in our prayer time to God that we have done all that we can do then the blood is literally on their hands and not ours.
We must raise the roof with our government and let them know they are not celebrities but elected officials who's jobs are paid for with tax payer dollars and they are in fact answerable to us (their employer) just as you are answerable to your boss whomever that may be. We accept a job position and understand that we are there for eight hours to serve them and not ourselves and they will pay us for our labor. Elected positions are the same, we vote them in but for the reason of being our elected agent with the authority to carry out our wants and desires, not their own. No one hires someone and pays them to just do whatever you want when you want and how you want. That makes absolutely no sense. Our employees are walking away from their job responsibilities and heading in essence to the break room or wherever they go to do what they want on our dime.
It is our responsibility as their employer to give them a corrective interview, to label out for them where they have not fulfilled their duties as an employee and list how we want them to correct the errors and misjudgments. If we are not doing this then the failure of our political and economic society cannot be held to them but to us. God has blessed this nation with opportunities for liberties that no other country on earth enjoys, not in the same ways we do. God has blessed us with the opportunity for self government and self elected leadership. To ignore this and allow it to go up in a ball of flame is like flicking God the bird and saying, "so what, who cares, it doesn't affect me in my life, I never asked for it and don't want it." Good stewardship also entails assuming and acting out in a responsible way and exercising our rights and privileges afforded to us by the people who fought and died to claim it as our own.
Stand with your neighbor and with me, let our elected public servants know they are missing the mark.
God's blessings to all of you,
Lou
A dying art form
Hello and good morning, I just finished reading this article and found it worth forwarding. I am placing the web link for it here:
http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/duke/100301
Why some Christians aren't Christian and simple facts are given. Something to think about the next time any of us find ourselves not wanting to be confrontational with our faith and our views. Confrontation as was explained to me by a Diocesan approved program is not a physical altercation or cruising for a bruising. Confrontation is a practice of giving opposing view. An art form that is not practiced much anymore in our culture is debate. In consensus, participants of a group are asked and relied upon to give their true thoughts and beliefs about something. All members are given five minutes to say their piece while the others only listen (key operative being listen) and no immediate response or retort is given, all members have their say. This gives a window into the mental and emotional goings on of the group. Once all have spoken it is easier to move forward as a group and not as an individual who desires to run rough-shot over everyone else. Consensus is difficult for many and even large corporations hire experienced group discussion leaders to help a department reach consensus because as individuals we want to be "right." Consensus may show that we are off track or that we are different in our thinking from others, it may show us for who we really are and that is getting too close to the quick of our mask that we cover ourselves with. It is easier to argue with someone about being right than to sit with someone and have a respectful and open ended discussion.
The author is not talking about consensus I feel it necessary to bring up consensus.
I believe that educated, responsible, mature adults can reach consensus on many issues. I'm not saying it will be a completely agreeable process and there will be some descent among members but in all, by and large each member is allowed to speak their piece without being cut off or told they are stupid. Each person is, for at least five minutes, heard by their piers and for many in our walk today that will seem for them like they have received the greatest gift. To be heard, that in our society today is one of the most prevailing causes as to why some people snap, they act out, because others around them don't want to listen. It would be the Christianly thing to do.
Be an open ear for someone today, just as Jesus is for you, every day.
Lou.
May you have a Jesus filled day
http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/duke/100301
Why some Christians aren't Christian and simple facts are given. Something to think about the next time any of us find ourselves not wanting to be confrontational with our faith and our views. Confrontation as was explained to me by a Diocesan approved program is not a physical altercation or cruising for a bruising. Confrontation is a practice of giving opposing view. An art form that is not practiced much anymore in our culture is debate. In consensus, participants of a group are asked and relied upon to give their true thoughts and beliefs about something. All members are given five minutes to say their piece while the others only listen (key operative being listen) and no immediate response or retort is given, all members have their say. This gives a window into the mental and emotional goings on of the group. Once all have spoken it is easier to move forward as a group and not as an individual who desires to run rough-shot over everyone else. Consensus is difficult for many and even large corporations hire experienced group discussion leaders to help a department reach consensus because as individuals we want to be "right." Consensus may show that we are off track or that we are different in our thinking from others, it may show us for who we really are and that is getting too close to the quick of our mask that we cover ourselves with. It is easier to argue with someone about being right than to sit with someone and have a respectful and open ended discussion.
The author is not talking about consensus I feel it necessary to bring up consensus.
I believe that educated, responsible, mature adults can reach consensus on many issues. I'm not saying it will be a completely agreeable process and there will be some descent among members but in all, by and large each member is allowed to speak their piece without being cut off or told they are stupid. Each person is, for at least five minutes, heard by their piers and for many in our walk today that will seem for them like they have received the greatest gift. To be heard, that in our society today is one of the most prevailing causes as to why some people snap, they act out, because others around them don't want to listen. It would be the Christianly thing to do.
Be an open ear for someone today, just as Jesus is for you, every day.
Lou.
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