Monthly Archives: August 2009

My personal season of change

August 31, 2009

Tomorrow is the first day of meteorological autumn. I have waited for this day all summer, and now it is here. Actually, all of 2009 has been a journey from one life to another. The path I was on has been radically altered and these past three months have been packed with change for me personally.

I started the year as a business consultant; I am entering fall as a Christian writer looking forward to a ministry through Amazing Grays-Amazing Grace. This has been a summer of political activism, at least in my blogging and articles. That assignment is nearly completed and another looms ahead.

This weekend proved that my approach to my horses must also change. The signs have been there all year; I received the final ‘lecture’ Saturday night. For more than two decades I have been learning how to train and lead horses, teaching them to mold their response based upon the frame set by my body position in the saddle. I can no longer give that direction well due to the rapid deterioration of my right knee. My horses react to my weight and balance. My balance is no longer reliable.

In the future I must share the responsibility with Bo and Swizzle, allowing them to assume some of the load. Obedience will still be required, but I must let go of some of the control and cede it to them. I ask my horses to trust me from the moment we first meet. Now I must return the favor and trust them more.

God will bless this change; indeed, He engineered it. He continues to teach me through my relationship with my gray horses. It seems that as we walk ever closer with the Lord our need for control, and our connection to the physical realm, must gradually fade.

My lesson? Faith. God will establish us if we let Him. Once He has, we are required to walk out in faith. Now I get it.

Do you wonder how you could possibly do the work God suggests to you? I did. But, I promise you; He will not ask you to do anything without also equipping you. He’s still loading my backpack… but the contents are wildly different than they would have been last year, or even yesterday.

Today is a pivotal day for me. I haven’t graduated yet, but I am being measured for a cap and gown. Like all education, we complete one level only to begin a new course of study. New assignments will be given tomorrow. It seems odd that I am not excited or filled with anticipation. It feels more like a simple fact, just as unremarkable as my expectation that the sun will rise in the east again tomorrow.
How can that be? Oh, yes…trust.

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Healthcare ‘reform’ will hit headlines again, let’s review…

August 30, 2009

I can’t attribute the quote at this moment, but here it is, “The proper test of any new idea is not what it will do in the best case, but what it might do in the worst.”

With that in mind, here is what the healthcare reform bill, HR3200, the main House bill is expected to do in the best case:

  • Take control of all medical research
  • Assume control of all medical records
  • Control medical residency programs
  • Decide based on your tax returns how much healthcare “credit” you get
  • Determine directly or indirectly the amount paid for healthcare
  • Fund healthcare as necessary to eliminate ethnic or geographic inequalities
  • There can be no privacy from the government any more, it is forbidden

The basis for government control of healthcare was already passed in the Stimulus Bill. We’re already way behind this debate, the only part of the horse left in the barn is the tip of its tail.

See previous posts for specific page numbers.

Keep the heat turned up!

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What can we learn from the death of Ted Kennedy?

August 28, 2009

Ted Kennedy died this week. All the facts are in the news and his death is seen as either a boon or bust for healthcare reform, depending on your political outlook. Fine, but let’s talk about what is really important. What lesson is there for each of us in the life and death of Senator Kennedy?

Ted Kennedy was, in most reports, a devout Catholic. The Pope didn’t share this view. Kennedy tried to draw a line separating secular and sacred his whole life. Anyone who tries this balancing act is doomed to failure.

Ted got an annulment for his marriage to Joan ten years after their civil divorce. How in the world could this happen, all those children now illegitimate in the eyes of the church? The Senator’s pro-abortion and pro-gay marriage also separated him from the teachings of his church. Indeed, the Pope has been silent to date on his death and the question of who will perform his funeral mass has yet to be answered.
The lesson for us is to use hindsight. Foresight is never accurate, so let us evaluate our lives in the rearview mirror. What will you care most about as you draw your last three breaths on this earth?

I can’t tell you the answer to that question. But, as someone once said, each day that we arise and say “Today will be my last day” – indeed, one day we will be correct. You must establish your priorities and begin to practice them today.

If you do not, that which you give lip service to as your greatest treasure will be but dust when you depart this world. It seems to have been so for Ted Kennedy. Do you think he will rest in peace? Will you?

A good article for background is found here, www.news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090827/wl_time/08599191906400

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Does the finger of guilt point at you? A call to action…

August 26, 2009

Contentment based on ignorance may allow for peace, but when we awaken to the facts, inner peace is no longer possible unless we act upon those facts. How’s your inner peace doing today? Let not your heart be troubled, you have the power to reclaim your peace. The question is, are you willing?

There is a great revival building in the United States and perhaps the world. We live in a very active time politically and spiritually. Great change is on the way, the question is, what change?

Evidence of revival is twofold; the number of citizens who are speaking out with passion rather than continuing to just passively listen, and the number of Christians who are beginning to listen passionately rather than simply speaking idle words.

Is there a still small voice inside telling you to attend a town hall meeting, join a group, write a letter, open your Bible or share a truth with someone else? If so, do it. That’s the simple answer to inner peace.

Our government and our churches have been doing unto us, resulting in a rise of discontent in both homes and pews. The tide will only turn if The People make it so. I don’t advocate any one strategy or policy; my only message today is to The People, who have both the power and responsibility to govern themselves.

Citizenship infers active status, requiring participation. It is not an honorary title bestowed at birth. Are you outraged when you hear the day’s news, or do you sigh in resignation? In either case, without action, you aren’t deserving of your title of citizen.

The majority of our citizens, according to every poll, believe the country is headed in the wrong direction. What change will return the United States to prosperity of both economy and national vision? The change you make.

You must pay attention to the voice within you, whether it is a constant drumbeat or barely audible. Whether the voice is your conscience or the Holy Spirit, don’t just listen; it is your call to action.

The enemy of freedom is apathy. Our founders knew we would get the government we deserve. History has proven them right once again. Let’s deserve better.

Do you feel guilt or shame when you see a United States soldier deployed, wounded, or returned to our soil only to be buried under it? If you are ignoring the voice within, then guilt and shame are entirely appropriate emotions. Embrace them, they are your choice.
Peace, whether national or personal requires commitment. Stand up. Speak up. Whatever that voice asks you to do, do it.

Posted in: Christian Relationships, Politics - the real world, Understanding Life – 2 Comments

It’s what is in-between that counts

August 25, 2009

One frequently assumes that beginnings and ends are the most noteworthy or valuable moments. Not necessarily so. In fact, seldom is the first or last of anything the most significant, except perhaps to an antique dealer.

The meat of the Old Testament lies between Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning” and Malachi 4:6, “or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.” Between the birth of Jesus Christ and the end of Revelation in the New Testament, we find a catechism of how Christian’s are to structure their lives. More important than this, the in-between contains the Crucifixion and Resurrection of our Savior. The significance is found sandwiched between the beginning and the end.

What does this mean to us? In our temporal life, our most meaningful moments are certainly not our birth and death. The days and years in-between are what count. Of course, births and deaths are important events, but ours will be much more memorable days in someone else’s life than in our own. Hopefully our birth was a significant event to our parents; our death may be so for our children.

What we do with our in-between part is what matters. The love we share, the lessons we teach, the example we set; these produce the fragrance of the bouquet of our lives. We cannot set our date of birth and few establish their own time of death. We can, however, fill the space between these events with actions and emotions that bless others.

For Christians there is yet another beginning and end. The day we first accept Christ as our Savior marks the start of our journey. The day we return to His presence, whether through our death or His second coming, establishes the end. We will not be judged on either our beginning or end; we are tested, quizzed and evaluated on the content of our in-between.

What we do today is of greatest importance. Yesterday is boxed and forgotten. Tomorrow never truly arrives, it just becomes today again.

Wonderful marriages are not built on the glamorous foundation of a wedding day, but the sum of all the shared todays. Are you concentrating on what was, or what might be? Live in today; it’s all you have.

Concentrate your thoughts and efforts on the in-between.

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Conveniently timed double-speak? Or is it just me…

August 24, 2009

Following quickly on the heels of negative revelations and Administration lies about spamming emails sent to rented lists with taxpayer funds, the White House released a statement today regarding the Justice Department inquiry and Attorney General Holder’s appointment of a special prosecutor. Here is the statement:

“The President has said repeatedly that he wants to look forward, not back, and the President agrees with the Attorney General that those who acted in good faith and within the scope of legal guidance should not be prosecuted. Ultimately, determinations about whether someone broke the law are made independently by the Attorney General.”

The President wants to look forward, unless he needs to focus public attention back to Bush in order to get the spotlight off his own problems. The statement says in essence, “I’m a good guy and want to be presidential… and I support my employee’s freedom to do what I will not agree I want him to do.” Still sounds like double-speak even when I try to translate. Hmmm.

The Justice Report in question was published in 2004. Five years later it is hot fodder for getting Obama out of the headlines. Would it seem cynical of me if I thought the White House has been holding this hole card for just such a time as this?

Why – why can’t people just be truthful and behave with integrity? Why can’t we have honest debate, disagreement and discourse?  I know, I know… but a girl can dream, can’t she?

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Agree with Larry Flynt? Well, maybe just this once…

August 21, 2009

Larry Flynt has an article appearing in today’s Huffington Post. It is about the improper relationship between corporate America and Congress. Do you remember Larry Flynt, editor of Hustler magazine and one-time political hopeful?

Me agree with Larry Flynt? Perhaps I just saw a pig fly by…did you see it, too? As odd as it may seem, he makes a number of salient points. I suggest everyone honestly looking for wisdom and information, as we collectively trudge through the quagmire of current events, read the article and consider his opinions. 

Mr. Flynt is absolutely correct about the damage done to our freedoms by both lobbyists and the illicit relationship between American business and those sworn to represent ‘we the people’. The article is measured in tone and offers some historical insight. Take a look.  Here’s the link.

http://huffingtonpost.com/larry-flynt/common-sense-2009_b_264706.html

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Obama and religion

August 21, 2009

Are you really surprised, and perhaps offended, that President Obama has drawn the churches into his campaign to take over the healthcare system?

Really? Obama learned back in Chicago that the hub of community organization was the community of black churches. Why wouldn’t he use an effective tool in what is now a much bigger attempt to organize?

Obama is being consistent. Just recognize it for what it is, using the faith of a people to further his political agenda.

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The mythunderstanding of equal rights

August 21, 2009

Equal treatment under the law is an important precept of the Constitution that applies to all citizens of the United States. Our educational and legal systems have been perpetrating a myth about equal rights for decades.

In the United States we have a right to equal treatment under the law, not in education, housing or healthcare. Equality under the law and equality of personhood are different matters. Where did we take a wrong turn?

All people have an equal right to relationship with God. Every one of us has the same right to call Jesus ‘Lord’, to be children with equal access to the Kingdom.

The crisis in equal rights appeared when the concept of relationship with the God of the Bible disappeared. The two legs upon which equality balanced were the law and relationship with God. When the leg representing our Creator was kicked away, ”inequality” started making headlines.

Any attempt to restore balance built upon the myth that equal rights of personhood can be bestowed by the government will fail. The Declaration of Independence speaks clearly on this subject.

Jesus has given perfect instruction on this point. All are equal under the law; an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Jesus marries each example of what is provided for under Law with what a Christian is required to do in addition to the Law.

The law of a land cannot be specific to any one doctrine. Our founding fathers knew that the United States would never be a nation of homogenous Christians. The law must apply to all, regardless of religious beliefs, as do the remedies or punishments it requires. 

Equality of personhood is but a dream until we bust the myth of how these rights are bestowed. Truth and balance will be restored when we return to the God of the Bible for support.

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Motivation and Wisdom

August 20, 2009

There is great debate about the role of government in the lives of the citizens of the United States. Is there a push to further develop the “nanny state” out of concern for those who are judged to be less fortunate? Or, is the motivation for establishing each new program something a bit more sinister?

This question has been around for centuries, if not millennia. God does not change, and unfortunately, neither does man. How are we to evaluate the underlying motivation of our elected leaders, or for that matter, anyone in a position of authority? Well, if you will agree to stipulate that man has not changed, let’s look at Scripture for guidance.

The scene is the house in Bethany of Lazarus, Mary and Martha. Mary used a pint of expensive perfume to anoint Jesus. Judas Iscariot objected, saying, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It is worth a year’s wages.”

The scripture continues with, “He did not say this because he cared for the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.” (John 12:5-6 NIV)

How are we to decide who is motivated from a desire to serve others or the desire to serve themselves? Only wisdom allows for true discernment. Study wisdom. Check your own motivation.

The proof is always the fruit. What is the result? If the result is good, then the effort was good. If the result was bad, even though someone wants points for effort, the fruit was bad. Wisdom requires clear judgment.

“Wisdom is justified by her children.” (Matthew 11:19 NKJV.)

Posted in: Christian Relationships, Politics - the real world – 1 Comment
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