Category Archives: Politics – the real world

Commentary and review of US politics.

Corporate America Warned Against Conservatism by the Generation of “Me”

The minutae of personal belief has reached a new level in the USA. There is a demand for balance (balance being a completely subjective concept anymore) in all things as long as the balance leans in the favor of those with other than traditional values it seems.

The Target Corporation is addressing this issue now as a contribution to the campaign of a conservative and pro-business candidate has outraged some in the gay and lesbian community to the extent that Target may have some expansion plans squashed.

Read the story by clicking  HERE.

Corporations and Politics

There is a legitimate question about whether corporations should be writing big checks to any campaign. Once the check is cashed corporation leadership has now stepped foot on the political stage and is vulnerable to all the pot shots that come with the territory.

So Target, “man up” and take it. Either don’t make political contributions or be willing to stand on principle. Just because the “liberal groups” that protest want equal cash and a big mea culpa doesn’t mean you have to deliver either.

The Generation of “Me”

There’s an old saying (actually originated in scripture) that a country divided will not stand. The United States is now divided into a nation of a bunch of ones. Everything is “Me, me, me.” Give me. Recognize me. Unfortunately the ‘me’ part fades quickly when issues of responsibility and accountability come up.

The foolishness and selfishness of ‘me’ groups is bringing our country down. Look around you; the evidence is piling up in every corner of the nation from Key West to Mauna Loa, from Alaskan glaciers to the bayous of Louisiana, and from Maine to Baja.

The saddest element of these ever-so-self-righteous promoters of “me” is that some may even admit that they are willing to see our nation perish if that’s what it takes to get their own way. They are playing a game of chicken. They consider their self-interest to be an equal wager against the whole and history of the United States of America.

I do not consider it fair game. Our representative government was formed to protect us from just such destructive and selfish elements. The United States and all her citizens are worth far more than your desire to flaunt your sexuality, your preference in food choices, your love for the snail darter, or any other single-issue cause. Our government is failing because the people who sit on their behinds in the chairs in Congress are afraid of the power of  “me.”

The collective foolishness of Washington DC is that most of those elected actually believe they can find a balance of both appeasement and bait that will let them continue to serve their own “me-ness.”

United We Stand

For the citizens who still consider the good of the nation to be of greater importance than their own, who serve in uniform, who weep during the National Anthem, who know that history is relevant if taught without bias, who hope to raise children who will be blessed by God as they stand under our flag, who recognize some power greater than their own – I call on all of you to stand together against the “Me Generation.”

Symbol of Unity and Not Self Interest

And on the subject of that Greater Power… the Constitution and Declaration are the foundation of the United States. If you don’t believe in any power greater than yourself then I understand why you don’t care if the nation perishes. All you’re looking for is opportunity. Fine and good. But even if that’s all you want, at least admit you are here because this is the best place to find opportunity. Killing the goose also shuts down the factory that makes the golden eggs.

Let us stand together, shoulder to shoulder, regardless of race, age, income, religion, sexual preference, height, weight, or anything else that presently divides us. Put away the “me” in favor of the ‘we.’

Heroes in a town without water

Weatherford, Texas spent two days without water earlier this week. There was a break in a coupling in a critical spot where treated water started in to the distribution system. There was plenty of water, but no way to get it to the folks.

Restaurants can’t open without sanitation facilities. Hospitals can’t do procedures and surgery. County offices were closed. Motels cannot operate. There wasn’t a working bathroom for miles. Not in the stores, not in the homes, not in the nursing facilities, not in the jail, not in the animal shelters. There was no running water anywhere.

No running water anywhere.

Did I mention this is the hottest week of this Texas summer? It has been 102-107 degrees of hot this week. And – no water in Weatherford.

Weatherford Heroes - Weatherford Star-Telegram

Heroes

This was a set-up for disaster. Not only was there near record heat, there was no water anywhere. But, like many other small to mid-size towns throughout the United States we have an ample supply of heroes. City workers, county workers, Red Cross volunteers, fire fighters, law enforcement, businesses and members of the community all came out to help one another.

Over the course of these two days I was out amongst the folks a number of times. My husband and I closed on a new piece of ground. I attended my weekly Rotary meeting.

We did all the errands that make their way to our list when we go in to town from the country. My husband worked his day at Center of Hope distributing groceries to client families that come in for assistance and a meal. Groceries still went out to those in need and the usual hot meal became a sack lunch, but the hungry were still fed. These are heroes in action.

No matter where you went in the area there were bottles and cases of water being distributed free to all comers. Outside one of the local banks I saw a truck packed with cases of water and a very hot, but dedicated bank employee sitting in a tiny plot of nearby shade waiting to give that water to anyone who needed it. We offered a shower to folks who thought the 25 mile trip worth it, but they all found help much closer to home.

Weatherford Texas, like many communities in our weary but wonderful nation, is full of heroes.

Texas Tough

Not only are the folks here in the Weatherford area Texas tough, they are Texas cheerful. Everyone we saw from those attending to the closed lunch rooms to those just looking to help someone else were in bright spirits, even if you could see just a touch of ‘glow’ that the morning’s missed shower didn’t remove.

Employees weren’t able to work. Businesses didn’t get to sell. Hungry folks couldn’t get served in a restaurant, and you had to plan sanitation events in advance, if you get my drift.

The economy is tough enough without an unexpected two day enforced ‘vacation’. Yet, to date, I haven’t heard one murmur about such issues. The only concerns I heard were about taking care of the folks and getting the water turned back on. Maybe there was a Grinch out there somewhere, but I sure never met up with him.

“We will not rest…”

A frequent statement heard from Washington DC these days is that “We will not rest” until the issue of the day is resolved. Somehow golf outings and vacations fail to qualify as ‘rest’, but I’m sure there must be some material fact I haven’t been briefed on yet.

Weatherford city management got on the ball Sunday night before anyone else knew what was coming. County officials and non-officials ran onto the playing field in socks and pajamas. (Maybe not literally, but darn near.)

A soon as the problem came up there was a passel of responders who did not rest until a solution was in place.

Happy Endings

Texas is a great place to live. Weatherford is a wonderful community, as are the others nearby who were front and center helping out their sister city and fellow Texans during this could-have-been crisis. There was no crisis because of the actions of all those who cared. And, the water is back on today.

Thank you Weatherford.
Thank you Parker County.
Thank you Red Cross.
Thank you fellow Texans.

May God bless America, and may He richly bless Texas.

Horses and humans, who rescues whom?

As the author of a book that is centered on the benefits of relationship between horse and human it isn’t surprising that this news story caught my attention this morning as I scrolled through my email inbox.  The story is about an equine rescue facility with dozens and dozens of horses that allowed local inmates to come in and help care for the land as their first assignment. After just a couple of days the program was cancelled.

The Fate of Wild Horses?

Prison Horse Programs

There are many very successful programs where convicted felons work with wild or rescue horses to rehabilitate or prepare them for eventual adoption into permanent families. Given the heart-breaking crisis wild horses in the US are presently suffering, it is a great blessing that at least some end up in the inmate programs. Click here – WILD HORSE ROUNDUP HEARTBREAK .

Some of the photos in the next link are of wild horses captured and penned up by the BLM. There are presently more than 35,000 wild horses being warehoused by the feds. Did you know there are actually more wild horses in holding pens than out on the range? Don’t click on this next link unless you have a strong stomach; sometimes truth hurts – WILD HORSE REALITY CHECK

How do wild horses benefit from the prisoners? Check out these articles by clicking on the caps:

WYOMING HONOR FARM

COLORADO PRISON PROGRAM

PULASKI PRISON RESCUE

Prisoners obviously make a huge impact in the lives of the individual horses lucky enough to escape the horror of the agency of the federal government (BLM) with the actual responsibility to care for them, and get sent to prison instead!

In other cases, horses rescued from neglect and abuse find safety, security, affection, and new lives through inmate programs.

Horses Rescue Inmates

As you read the stories in these linked articles you must also see how changed each inmate is as a result of their experience with the horses. Horses don’t lie. Horses require honesty, patience, authenticity, consistency, and leadership. Horses won’t give their trust to anyone based on his or her bravado, threats, swagger, lies or tattoos.

Inmate Loads Newly Adopted Horse - AP

Inmates are forever changed as human beings because of the lessons they learned from the horses they work with. Self-esteem, value, persistence, love, redemption, and service. True heroes are also truly humble. Through these programs, once dangerous felons become nurturing teachers and saviors to the four-legged students they serve.

So, who rescues whom? And why did this particular program go so wrong so quickly? Read the story here – INMATE VOLUNTEERS

Was it politics? No one complained directly, so who complained? Many of the comments readers added to this story are pointed and accurate.

What do you think?

For additional stories and perspectives, here are more links to articles:

AMERICAN WILD HORSES

CLOUD FOUNDATION

Inclusiveness and Freedom

Watching the news it becomes obvious that the subject of inclusiveness has become a political football; different factions vying for the right to define it.
Both major political parties are competing for the title of being the most inclusive.

Unfortunately for my fellow citizens, and depending on whether you see a glass as half-empty or half-full, both parties are either doing a fine job of achieving the politically correct form of the term, or failing with equal excellence if one actually understands English and the proper meaning of inclusiveness.

Definition of Inclusiveness

Dictionary.com defines the term as, “including the stated limit; including everything concerned.”

The definition includes a limit; everything within and everything concerned. Being inclusive requires boundaries or it is a useless concept.

Related Searches

The miracle of search engines offers these major searches common to the term ‘inclusiveness’ on Dictionary.com:

  • Diversity – synonymous with ‘miscellaneous’
  • Liberalism – synonymous with ‘indulgent or broad’
  • Integrity – synonymous with ‘unity’

Every Umbrella has Defined Limits

That a significant number of our citizens believe these three concepts to be synonymous with ‘inclusiveness’ is a problem. Here are the definitions for each; you be the judge.

  • Diversity: the state or fact of being different; unlikeness
  • Liberalism: philosophy advocating the freedom of the individual
  • Integrity: adherence to principles; state of being whole or undimished

Only one of these terms actually lends itself well when you consider the definition of inclusiveness, and that is ‘integrity’. Diversity concentrates on what is different, inclusiveness on what is alike. Limitless liberalism is closer to anarchy than connectedness.

My freedom ends…

From an early age my mother taught me that, “My freedom ends where yours begins.” This is a lesson in getting along with each other. Taken to its extreme, one who has total liberal freedom may murder at random thus taking away all freedom of even life itself from his or her victims. Any expansion of one individual’s freedom will cause an equal contraction of the freedom of another.

The concept of society is that of distinguishing where the margins of my freedom and yours intersect. A nation of laws then establishes statutes so each citizen enjoys the greatest possible individual freedom while protecting the freedoms of his neighbor. The topic of freedom of speech also requires societies to determine where the margins of personal freedom should be.

Tolerance or Hypocrisy?

Tolerance is similar to inclusiveness in that it requires establishing limits in order to be meaningful. Inclusive of what? Tolerant of what? To include everything or tolerate everything defines anarchy. There is no order, no guaranteed freedoms, and no society.

Being tolerant only to the extent that you require others to allow you to exercise your freedom without limits is hardly an example of being tolerant; it is an illustration of hypocrisy. Taking away my freedom so that you may enjoy yours is not tolerance. Margins and limits must be established.

A Rose

Also a Rose?

Labels and Faces

Quit looking at the labels and faces of social and political debate; they lie. ***   Instead look at the impact on freedoms. Our government is charged with providing for the common good. Not everyone will agree on what the common good is, but recognize the consequences of social and legislative changes before you stand up for them.

Action and Reaction

In physics we learn that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The same is true of freedom.

Imagine a bucket filled to the brim of water. The bucket represents freedom. If you want more freedom you add more water. By adding more of your water you cause other water to flow out over the top of the bucket where it will be lost.

There is no Limitless Capacity

Inclusiveness isn’t limitless. Freedom isn’t limitless. It is not possible to provide everything to everybody. This isn’t a political opinion, it’s just a simple fact.

Limit Freedom?

Only by establishing limits on freedom will we retain the freedoms we presently enjoy. It doesn’t matter to me which political party you affiliate with, I’m just trying to help folks visualize the issues we face realistically.

I’m a horse trainer. One of my jobs is to help horse owners understand how horses think so they can be more effective in creating great relationships with them. If an owner thinks a horse should be other than what it is they will always be in conflict with their  horse. A horse will always be a horse.

Societies of humans have already experimented with every possible ideology. Search history, including the Bible, and you will discover that just as horses have not changed, neither has mankind.

Every freedom you enjoy will by both practice and definition limit the freedom of someone else. Choose your representatives wisely and remember to look at how each proposed change will affect all our freedoms.

*** This is a blackberry, not a rose.

NRA endorsing Harry Reid?

After listening to the official recorded message on the NRA website about the rumors about a Reid endorsement that are streaking across the Web and airwaves I just had to chime in.

Bait and Switch?

For the record, this post neither approves or disapproves of either the NRA or Harry Reid. Okay, my husband is a lifetime member of the NRA and my eighty year old father just got back from their national convention.

And you're endorsing whom?

The point I hope to make is to draw your attention to the  blatant rationalization the NRA is using to justify their possible/probable endorsement of Harry Reid. It is yet another example of a group gone rogue without noticing the point where their wheels left the road well traveled for one that leads to ruin. [See definition of "hypocrisy."]

Conservative Base

The NRA is a one-agenda organization. I get that. They plan to justify their endorsement of Reid by perusing his entire record only as it affects gun ownership. I get that.

Here’s the problem. They market almost exclusively to conservatives. Their national convention was a Who’s-Who of the top conservative voices in the nation: Newt Gingrich; Sarah Palin; Glenn Beck, etc.

Now they may endorse a sworn enemy of the majority of their membership in the name of political expediency.

Sign of the Times?

Another one bites the dust. Just listening to the recorded message on the NRA website made me sad. I’m not a big fan of guns. Most of my immediate family have concealed carry permits. I don’t.

I absolutely support the Second Amendment. I support a lot of things that I don’t actually participate in.

However, I am disgusted by two things:

  • The NRA is no longer the organization we thought it was. It is now purely political for the organization’s benefit alone and not for the benefit of it’s members.
  • The NRA thinks it may be able to snow many of its members into going along with this line of “reasoning.” Whether or not the members buy it will go a long way in describing where our nation truly stands.

NRA: Then and Now?

Patriots

Harry Reid and his fellows are the poster children for gutting the Constitution with their desire to let it morph and grow into something newer and, in their eyes, better. Fine.

The NRA is all about the Constitution. They wave the flag of patriotism at every opportunity.

If you’re a conservative member of the NRA you are facing one whale of a big decision. What’s more important, your membership in the NRA or your principles?

Listen to the NRA recording yourself at 1-800-392-8683, option number one.

The need to prune…

The art of pruning involves removing what is perfectly healthy and setting it aside to allow what remains to become stronger or to restore to health what is ailing.

I say ‘art’ because pruning is not an exact science. One must make a correct assessment of the state of the whole before beginning to snip and discard. Of equal, or greater, importance is the inspired vision of how pruning will lead to the ultimate goal.

Vision

Discernment

The ability to correctly assess and generate vision is a combination of both gift and experience. As with any artistic endeavor, natural talents combine with study and hard work to both create vision and be able to share it with others.

Painters must discern the line where one stroke of their brush ends and another begins. Horse trainers must discern the moment where pressure of leg or rein is effectively applied or removed.

Judges must discern where the rights of one citizen end and another’s begin. Christians must discern where to apply a message of “an eye for an eye” and when it is best to “turn the other cheek.”

Contradiction

To the uneducated or unenlightened two things may appear to contradict one another when in fact they do not. This is why Oswald Chambers so rightly cautions us to “not judge what we do not understand.”

Is it a contradiction that a rider should put pressure on the reins to stop their horse and they should put pressure on the reins to continue forward with more effort? (Collection)

In scripture and in most any other endeavor that requires higher level instruction there will exist an apparent conflict of basic concepts to those without the necessary education or enlightenment that provides discernment.

Instant vs. Long-Term Reward

Pruning a tree may reduce today’s beauty in favor of a more vigorous long-term result. Culling the least productive from a herd of horses or cattle enhances the ultimate health and profitability of the herd.

In organizations, whether for profit or not, it is sometimes necessary to ‘cull’ the least productive in order to achieve the mission of the enterprise. Your best sales person may cause more disruption in the ranks that they are truly worth. The very popular figurehead of your company or church may actually be a rotten apple behind the façade seen by the public.

Government

One of the greatest challenges faced by citizens of the United States in 2010 is culling those in our government who may provide us with benefit today but will ultimately lead to our economic and societal demise.

If the electorate does not correctly prune now, the ‘tree of freedom and prosperity’ will eventually die. The disease of ‘judging what is not understood’ has sapped the energy of our nation. Elected officials make laws about an economy they do not understand.

Judges set boundaries that determine who enjoys freedom; improperly removing freedoms from one in order to give it to another. Our government is no longer able to correctly identify what our picture looks like today and set a vision for the future that may be shared with all.

Time to Prune

It is time to prune officials who either inhibit or prevent a return to health for our ailing ‘tree.’ It is time to accept that short term rewards must be sacrificed for long-term survival. Only wisdom and vision can prune correctly.

Will this tree live?

Our government is in the process of systematically plucking every new leaf that tries to unfurl in the sun and lopping off each foundational limb of our national tree.
What to cut? When to cut? Be very, very careful into whose hands you place the axe. Once too much has been sacrificed, death is assured – only the time of it remains in question.

Source of Wisdom

Our founding fathers knew the source of wisdom that never fails. If you are worried that I’m heading to the Bible, you’re right. If you don’t want to go there with me, take the exit now.

“If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.” (Matthew 5:30)

The Source of Wisdom

In all things, wisdom, judgment, vision, and discernment are given as gifts by the Holy Spirit and nurtured and hammered into sturdy tools through education and experience.

One purpose of this verse is to teach us to prune. It goes against our natural intellect to discard what is healthy at the moment. Our natural gifts and vision won’t get us out of the problem in our nation today. Only the gifts and vision of our new nature as heirs to the kingdom can properly guide the hands on the pruning axe.

Fellowship

Both our nation and faith were founded on fellowship; “We the people” and the brotherhood of Jesus Christ.  The gifts of the Bible and the Constitution provide sufficient instruction for wise and visionary people as they prepare to prune.

Let’s work together.

Does the end justify the means?

Today’s news headlines just scream out to me “Temptation”!

How so? Temptation is defined as taking a shortcut to a destination that in itself may be desirable. Synonyms for temptation include bait, lure, and seduction.
From the US government’s reaction to the BP oil spill in the Gulf to the methods horse trainers use to win championships, each uses the same excuse, “To deliver a right and beneficial result.”

Well, okay. In other words, it doesn’t matter HOW we get something done as long as we get the right RESULT.

Judgment Requires Vision

Now how could a Christian take issue with this? Aren’t we told in the Bible that all things are properly judged by their fruit? Yes, and rightly so.

However, the vision of the one judging the fruit must be expansive. Temptation encourages rationalization which is the epitome’ of narrow vision.

The cruel tactics used to produce world championships in horses have morphed through the decades as the stink from the bad fruit of the practices finally overcame the polished fruit of the victories at the expense of the horse. In many cases, as one practice was outlawed another rose up to take its place.

Such practices were outlawed because the vision of those watching was expanded to see not only the “right and beneficial result” of the win, but finally widened enough to see the pain, sacrifice, and cruelty the horses had to endure in order to deliver.

Temptation by any other name…

“I am going to resist the temptation to resort to the most graphic example of an end as justification for the means by citing the case of Nazi Germany .”

How many of you caught the lie in that sentence? ** I told you I wasn’t going to go there and by telling you that took you there immediately.

That was illustration number one. Here’s the second, a very, very simple example of temptation without vision.

The Promise

Weed killer. Your lawn is full of weeds. Your neighbor tells you of a great product that will kill every weed in your yard. He used it and it seems to have worked beautifully. You apply it to your grass. The result is immediate and delightful. Your lawn is free of weeds.

Fast forward two springs from now… the neighbor’s lawn is dead and your lawn is dead. The long term effect of the weed killer was soil sterilization. Looked good in the short term, but ultimately destroyed everything – permanently.

The Result

Can you say “Goose that laid the golden egg?”

This tendency of mankind to grab for the nearest temptation to solve immediate problems has been around since the Garden gate slammed behind Adam and Eve upon their exit.

As you watch the news tonight, think about it. Will you judge with vision or simply take the bait?

** This sentence is in quotation marks and footnoted to make it CLEAR that this is not a statement but an illustration. I am not admitting lying. I was just making a point.

In honor of a Marine…

A young Marine from College Station, TX, Cpl Jacob C. Leicht, was killed last Thursday by a roadside bomb while on foot patrol in Helmand province, Afghanistan.

Corporal Leicht, 24, had already earned a Purple Heart and Combat Action Ribbon before making the ultimate sacrifice for his country, and for us, along that dusty road thousands of miles from home.

Why is this Marine in the news today? Well, it’s Memorial Day. And, Jacob has the somber honor of being the 1,000th casualty in the war in Afghanistan.

Shame on us

As I began writing this morning I had to search to find this Marine’s identity. He is the subject of many news pieces on the Web and in the mainstream media. In many of those reports however, Jacob Leicht has been reduced to a number; 1,000.

Why is it that true heroes like Jacob, and each one of the thousands of others who gave their lives defending our way of life remain publicly nameless? The names of superfluous celebrities are glorified in headlines and conversations in every newspaper, e-magazine, coffee shop, beer parlor, and stadium.

Why?

Learn from the Marines

Every branch of the service and law enforcement community deserves honor and our gratitude. For today I will concentrate on the Marine Corps in honor of Corporal Jacob Leicht. God bless all the others who live in the hearts and memories of loved ones.

Marines never forget. The bonds forged never break. The fellowship of the Marine Corps adds up to something far greater than a simple sum of the individual soldiers, both past and present, added together.

Curly Talmage

A dear friend of mine is the oldest living cutting horse trainer. At 87, Curly still rides and Curly still flies the Marine Corps flag at his place. Curly fought in the Pacific during the Big One alongside his brother Marines.

Curly is, was, and will always be, a Marine.

What’s the lesson?

The Marines have never lost sight of the Big Picture; they are bound together by what they share. They are kept strong by a firm foundation and common purpose. Idiosyncrasies of personality and philosophy are kept personal.

Look at the state houses of the United States of America. The voices raised are dissident, proclaiming individual purpose and right; they recognize value in what divides, not what unites those in the communities. Is there common purpose and brotherhood in Washington DC? Hardly. We no longer seem to value what we share as much as what makes us different.

Christians are united by the common bond of the Holy Spirit that lifts us above what makes us different. How does your church body measure up against the standard set by the Marines? Is there a banner you fly for all the world to see like Curly Talmage’s Marine Corp flag? Are you willing to march behind this Standard no matter what danger lurks along the road?

Remember our fallen

On this Memorial Day, remember all who gave their lives that we might be free. Remember also the One who paid the ultimate price to secure freedom for all in His family.

Are you a Horse Whisperer?

Taking a new book on the road is much like beginning a career as a horse trainer. The most frequent question strangers asked in my early days as a trainer was, “What type of training do you do and would I know any of the horses you’ve turned out?” Once I give my thirty-second synopsis of Amazing Grays-Amazing Grace, the most frequent question I get now is, “Are you a horse whisperer?”

4 x 6

Horse whispering

A Horse Whisperer is…

It took me a little while to formulate an answer I am comfortable with. There has been so much celebrity attached to this term as a result of movies, books, and trainer self-promotion that I was reluctant to hop on board that very crowded bandwagon.

Until I figured out that it was really wonderful that this wagon of whisperers was so densely populated. Now I immediately answer the question, “Yes, I am.” But – I quickly add that ‘horse whisperer’ is now a generic term for any trainer who works from a foundation of relationship with the horse; where lessons are based on leadership and followership, security and affection – in essence, herdship.

For Love of the Horse

Horse whisperers love horses and all things equine. We recognize that any failure of the horse is but a mirror image of our own failure to properly communicate or lead. Horses bless us with simplicity. One of the chapters in Amazing Grays, “Keep It Simple”, seems to appeal to many readers as they consider their relationships with horses, God, children, and spouses.

Horse whisperers don’t just speak quietly, they listen. It is impossible to listen if we are talking. Seems pretty simple, doesn’t it?

What drives people to live with, study, finance, and make the commitment required to be in relationship with a horse?

Love.

We’re All Horse Whisperers

An article written by top clinician Richard Winters came through my email inbox a few minutes ago about correcting horses that are barn, gate, or arena sour – or those who are herd bound to a buddy. I had written a nearly identical piece last month.

Why do I mention this? Because it further reinforces my own personal discovery. Truth is truth. The fundamentals of leadership and great relationships are the same, no matter the details.

Like Christianity and politics, there will always be specific hills of disagreement, but we don’t live there. We build relationships upon the broad plains of shared belief.
Let’s all stand together on that wide, solid foundation built upon love of the horse – every one of us who is blessed to be a horse whisperer.

What’s your freedom worth?

History is replete with examples of people who traded their freedom for captivity that came with a promise. The first story of bartering freedom is part of the very first story… Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Evidence that we continue on this same destructive path continues to mount even as the final piece of Health Care Reform is signed in Washington today.

Who Do You Believe?

Who Do You Believe?

Sometimes a Sense of Entitlement Closes the Sale

Eve bought the argument made by the serpent, “Why shouldn’t you be able to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge? Will you accept your status as second-class citizen?” Everyone knows how that story ended. The gate of the Garden barely missed bruising Adam and Eve’s leaf-covered behinds as it closed behind them forever. They sold their freedom for something to which they were not entitled. Oops. Satan lied, they died.

Fear and Laziness Convince Some to Sign the Deal

The captive Israelites in Egypt were elated as Moses led them out of service to Pharaoh and into freedom. Yet, no sooner did the waters of the Red Sea settle quietly over the Egyptian army than they started to whine, “ Who’s going to feed us? “

They knew the answer, they just weren’t sure they liked the terms of the deal. Accepting freedom includes responsibility and faith. They wanted to go back to Egypt to resume life as poorly treated slaves. Not a great life, but at least they knew where to go to work each day and that a bowl of watery soup would be delivered.

What happened to that generation of Israelites that turned its back on freedom? They all died in the desert. Someone lied, they died.

Citizens of the United States Are Selling Their Freedom

You have all heard that unless we study history we are doomed to repeat it. So true. Millions of American citizens are selling their freedom to the government in return for the promise of equality. Eve tried it. Didn’t work out so well there… Others are willing to sell their freedom because they are afraid of being responsible for themselves. They would rather have the guarantee of a watery bowl of gruel than the possibility of the promised land.

A Promise of Freedom You Can Believe

During this Holy Week there is yet one more example of people who sold their freedom because they did not understand the terms of the deal before them.
Jesus rode triumphant into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, hailed as a conquering hero to the Jews living under Roman occupation. The citizens believed Jesus came as a military king, one who would defeat the powerful and deliver them into eternal freedom.

The True Symbol of Freedom

The True Symbol of Freedom

Only five days later Jesus died; a failed imposter in the minds of those who called for His crucifixion. The people of the day were looking for someone to do the work for them, to fix everything, to return them to favored status.

The choice they made was to trade their freedom in hope that someone would make everything nice for them now. When the Garden gate closed, when the waters of the Red Sea stilled, and when sundown came on Good Friday, the foolish had given away their options for freedom without so much as a scuffle. They all died, remorseful of the deal they signed.

Who Do You Believe?

The lie each of these trusted was that a promise of a little today was worth the price of their freedom forever. When you give your freedom away you can never get it back. If it is taken from you by force, you have the possibility of using force to regain it.

Whether you are a Christian or not, the lesson here is to read the fine print before you sign away your freedom. Good deals are defined as those where both sides walk away winners. Are you giving away your freedoms for the promise of a little soup or a place in line at the free clinic?

True freedom comes when we agree wholeheartedly to the only deal offered where both sides win. That’s the deal offered to Christians. Eternal freedom brings eternal life. What may pass for temporary freedom only guarantees temporary life.

Patrick Henry very clearly laid out the choice we all must make:
“Give me liberty or give me death.”

In everything, choose life – choose freedom.