Psalm 27

The Lord is my light and my salvation—
    whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—
    of whom shall I be afraid?

² When the wicked advance against me
    to devour^[a] me,
it is my enemies and my foes
    who will stumble and fall.
³ Though an army besiege me,
    my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
    even then I will be confident.

⁴ One thing I ask from the Lord,
    this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
    all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord
    and to seek him in his temple.
⁵ For in the day of trouble
    he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent

  and set me high upon a rock.

⁶ Then my head will be exalted
    above the enemies who surround me;
at his sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of joy;
    I will sing and make music to the Lord.

⁷ Hear my voice when I call, Lord;
    be merciful to me and answer me.
⁸ My heart says of you, “Seek his face!”
    Your face, Lord, I will seek.
⁹ Do not hide your face from me,
    do not turn your servant away in anger;
    you have been my helper.
Do not reject me or forsake me,
    God my Savior.
¹⁰ Though my father and mother forsake me,
    the Lord will receive me.
¹¹ Teach me your way, Lord;
    lead me in a straight path
    because of my oppressors.
¹² Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,
    for false witnesses rise up against me,
    spouting malicious accusations.

13 I remain confident of this:
    I will see the goodness of the Lord
    in the land of the living.
¹⁴ Wait for the Lord;
    be strong and take heart
    and wait for the Lord.

The Unmerciful Servant

In Matthew 18:21-35, Jesus tells His disciples a story about a servant that owes his king a great deal of money. The story has an interesting twist in that the servant has a friend that owes him money. Before Jesus begins the story, He has a short conversation with Simon Peter about forgiveness. The story illustrates the principle. Here's is how it plays out.

²¹ Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
²² Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.^[g]
23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. ²⁴ As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold^[h] was brought to him. ²⁵ Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
²⁶ “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ ²⁷ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
²⁸ “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins.^[i] He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.
²⁹ “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’
³⁰ “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. ³¹ When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.
³² “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. ³³ Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ ³⁴ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. ³⁵ “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

So it would seem that the servant owed his king a great deal of money. Chances are good that this servant was not a food and wine taster or butler. He was more likely a court official or maybe even a governor of a province in the king's kingdom. I say this because of what was owed. This man owed his king millions of dollars by our measure. A king would not loan this kind of money to his body servant. This particular servant probably had some juice of his own; he had power, but none over the king. 

Whoever this servant was, the king was ready to call in his loan. His servant did not have the cash. The king was not happy and ordered that his servant, family and possessions to be sold to pay the debt. The servant sued for mercy and the mercy was received. The king was magnanimous to the point of full forgiveness of the debt. This kind of grace was uncommon in the ancient world.

So the servant was freed from his debt; released from his responsibility. He must have felt good. He must have felt free. He was probably happy, peaceful and content. You would think so right? 

But such was not the case. After leaving the king's presence, this servant sought out another servant that owed him a mere 100 silver coins to force him to pay. The contrast is astounding. The first servant had owed 10000 bags of gold. His fellow servant owed him 100 silver coins; a mere pittance by comparison. Yet the servant that had been forgiven so much, was not merciful to his colleague. He demanded payment. When it was not forthcoming, the servant did to his colleague what the king saved him from. He had him thrown into debtor's prison.

The story did not end well. Word got to the king of what this wicked servant had done after being forgiven so much and so the king brought justice to bear. The man was thrown into prison to be tortured and to suffer until he paid the original debt. As you might be aware, you do not make money in prison; at least not enough to pay off a debt like his. So the wicked servant was probably imprisoned until he died.

Jesus concludes the story by saying that this is how God will deal with us if we do not forgive each other.
-------------------------
I have been this unmerciful servant. I do not want to be like him Lord. I am sorry for my failure to forgive. I repent of it. Please take my anger and wash it clean. Purify me so that I can serve again. I have unclean hands. Teach me to love and take responsibility for my brethren as they care for and are merciful to me. Please give me back my clean hands and pure heart and help me to turn away from the fear. It is evil. Help me Lord to do what is right...even if it kills me. In your name I pray these things..Amen     

The Dark Side

I can't seem to shake it. It's going to dog me until I'm dead. I really hate that. There seems to be several levels of ME at war this morning. No one is winning. I need some divine intervention. I am, at this moment, indignant, angry and hateful. I think I need something to eat.

What I said yesterday in this blog is part of that war. I will not tell you to ignore it. It has been said.

I have already deleted two blog posts this morning because of the battle going on inside me.

There was some regret after I wrote them and clicked 'publish' so maybe there is some hope for resolution here.

I am going to need some time to work this out. I am angry at someone. I don't often feel that way. I have to stop writing or I am going to have to delete this one too.

If you want to put me on your prayer list, that would be good.

Egoism and Self-Centeredness

Last week, in the Sunday school class that I teach, we were Matthew 18. the chapter opens with Jesus' disciples discussing which of them would be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. The disciples get busted for this a few times in the gospels. Jesus always has to tell them that if they want to be great in the kingdom, they will have to serve each other and others and to become like little children - the least of all on the earth.

In preparing for this lesson, I came across an interesting entry in a commentary on Matthew that I have been using as I teach. The commentary is "The Chronological Life of Christ", by Mark Moore. He is one of those guys that writes like he talks, so he is easy to understand. In his commentary while writing about this passage he says,

"Egoism is natural to most people. It drives us to the front of the line, to the best seat in the house, and to the biggest piece of cake. It is seen as innocuous and natural in ourselves, but somewhat irritating in others. In fact, it is even encouraged by parents and teachers. Jesus sees beyond this facade. This egoism is the cause of arrogance, selfishness, war, greed, corporate takeovers, jealousy, rape, etc. It is even the cause of low self esteem. The problem with a low self esteem is not that a person thinks too lowly of himself, but that he thinks to much of himself. When our eyes are outward, serving others, it is impossible to be plagued with self pity or self abasement."    

I think this is so right that I put it in my blog. I know from experience that this is true and I also know from watching others. When we live too much in our heads, thinking about the things we want, where we will go or what we will do or how sad it is that we are not this or that; that is precisely when we fall into patterns of egoism.

I have often thought that we become addicted to the emotions we experience and that we find ways to "enjoy" them again and again. Whether it be love, joy, happiness and contentment or self pity, self abasement, anger or malice; we find ways we can experience them again and again, even if it's on the subconscious level. I would even go so far as to say that sometimes depression is self induced. For myself, all it takes is one little thing to start a self examination that any prosecutor would envy. It can put me in a depressive tail spin that can last for days.

I have had to learn not to live so much in my head, but out there where others are, putting myself in their place or in some way helping them, and in so doing, helping me to overcome this tendency. It is a hard cycle to break. I still have bad days where my attitude totally crashes. It's usually because I have spent too much time alone.

Getting out among 'em is the answer.

Hope to see you tomorrow at church. Later my friends. 

I'm Taller Don't Ya Know

Well I went to bed at 8:37 PM last night and I woke up 11 hours later only to discover that my calendar had expired. Then when I logged on to GOOGLE this morning, the egg which was 2016 on their logo yesterday had hatched. At first it was a mallard duck, then it changed to a crocodile and then a stack of turtles. I suppose that somehow this is significant in that even GOOGLE does not know what lies ahead in the new year.

 

I bet they have a better idea than I do, but that might sound conspiratorial and I'm trying to cut down on that stuff. That probably won't happen though. I sense conspiracy everywhere, the original planner being our adversary that roams the earth seeking whom he can devour. He is always hungry. He makes shit happen...if you'll excuse the expression.

It's was a tough work week. I did some 12 and 14 hour days because I'm a nice guy and gave everyone the week off (and I needed to cut some hours as business slows way down the week after Christmas - it was my personal conspiracy). Long work days are not as easy as they used to be. I am not a young man anymore. Four hours of sleep a day no longer works so well, so last night's rest was much needed. What I find is, that if I don't get enough sleep, I get depressed and cranky. No one wants that. I can be a bit snippy when that happens. I feel pretty good this morning though. I just lack motivation. Getting the first cup of coffee down will help.  I have a BOGO coupon for Caribou. I may go over and complete my caffeine buzz there.

I was thinking about where I was at last year at this time in terms of spiritual and mental growth. I was blogging like a mad man in 2015 and someone told me to cool it in a blog comment. I think I responded that I could not stop and that it was all going come out this year if it killed me. That was a rough paraphrase.

I think I achieved my purpose. I did not die, but it was close. Y'all know way more about me now than you ever wanted to know and I apologize for that, but it just had to come out. I could not conceal the truth anymore. For some of you, I know that's been a problem, but you will get over it. I did. Trust me please. It's better this way.

I feel completely different. I feel free. I feel more saved than I have ever felt before. It's the way I should have felt back in 1974 after I was baptized in a little church in Joplin, Missouri. My growth has been stunted for a very long time, but not anymore. There were no less than 4 people that asked me if I had gotten taller at the family Christmas celebration. These were people that had not seen me since last year. I am 58 years old. It's doubtful I will be growing any direction other than sideways at 58. Nonetheless I am exuding the impression that I am taller. How does this happen?

It's my soul. If It gets much taller, it's not going to fit in my body anymore. That's OK. My body is worn out anyway.

So here's to a new year. More growth. Longer pants cuz I'm so dang tall. And a better vision of where Jesus wants me to go.        

Reflections On a Snowstorm, Ditch Babies and Things That Will Kill You

We had a snowstorm today. It was snowing when I left for work this morning at 05:30 and it was still snowing when I left for home at 1800. I'm not sure how much we got but some of it was grainy ice pellets, fine as beach sand. It was hitting the metal roof at work and it sounded like a sandstorm. The nasty weather was good for one thing though. Customers either stayed home or closed early today. The result was that I got home earlier than anticipated. I suppose I will pay for it tomorrow.

The mayhem on the bypass was minimal. I only saw 6 ditch babies tonight as opposed to 16 during the last snow blitz prior to Thanksgiving. That must have been training day. If you are unfamiliar with the term "ditch baby", I am not talking about a Flemish pastry. That would be a "dutch baby". What I am talking about are those who do not know how to drive properly in winter weather conditions and put their vehicles into the medians and ditches of highways and roads and then cry about it.  For a better pictorial explanation, please see below. This was a particularly talented ditch baby.

 When I got home, the driveway was clogged with fresh ice snow. I was imagining it freezing solid over night and becoming impossible to move, so I broke out the snow blower and shifted the snow. I have a long driveway and a small snow blower so it took me about an hour and 20 minutes to giterdun. I briefly toyed with the idea of waiting for my cousin Joe to come and plow me out in the morning, but I kept picturing Dad wandering out into the driveway in the middle of the night in pursuit of the people on television and then falling down in the snow on the driveway. That thought and the thought of staying inside and listening to him while he watches the cleft palate kids infomercial was enough to propel me out into the cold to blow snow in the dark. Such is my life.

Once the driveway was blown, I came back in and fixed dinner. Dad had Stouffer's Mac and Cheese and I had Hot Links. Johnston's All Beef Hot Links are one of my favorite foods. I think they will probably kill me, but what a way to go. I prepare 4 of them in the microwave. They cook for 3 minutes and 30 seconds. I lay out 4 low carb Aztec tortilla on a paper towel. I lay a thin slice of Kraft habenero pepper cheese on each tortilla. Then I roll up a hot link in each one. Spicy, juicy, chewy, delicious. What else can I say? I love them. It's no wonder I have cholesterol poisoning. Then I chase it with some rainbow sherbet.  Stop laughing Eric. I love rainbow sherbet.

I think I need to go to bed now. Back to work at 0600 again tomorrow. Could be an interesting day.    

The Last Week of the Year

This is more informational than anything else if you are looking to get the Ground Hog to come out and play. I am going to be spending a lot of time at work this week; 0600 to 1800 for sure and probably later each day on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I will not be available. I gave two people the week off in the office and I have another on medical leave. It should be a short bout of suffering and New Years Eve day should be a short day for me. I might also add that my writing will be sparse if not non-existent. Ya, don't get excited. I'll be back.


After that, in the New Year I will be available again for morning coffee at Caribou in Pleasant Hill or any alternate destination. Shoot me a text if you're interested in talking or call me and we will set something up. I will talk about anything and listen to what you have to say. I am humble and lovable and cuddly. Never mind the sharp teeth and claws.

You get extra points if we do not know each other well. Come on down and lay it on me. You might get a free book out of the deal. Don't be scared. It's just me,

Did I say that?

Single-Mindedness

Sunday school was good today. Dave brought a lesson about single-mindedness. That's not the same as narrow-mindedness or close-mindedness.

Single-mindedness is focusing on one thing so that it can permeate and season everything else in your life. That one thing would be dedication to a life in Christ. The idea is that by focusing on Him, it will change and improve everything else we do. It will make our lives unfold and happen in a way pleasing to Him and in our best interest as well.

Here is what Jesus said at the end of my favorite part of the Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew 6:31-34

So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Devotion to God and everything that goes with that should be our single-minded pursuit as believers.

If we do this, He will take care of our needs. It probably will not be a six bedroom house, 3 cars and a boat, but if we pursue Him single-mindedly, He will see to our needs. 

What I have found in my life is that even when I was not pursing Him, He pursued me. Praise His Name; I have always had a job, a roof over my head, food to eat and transportation. I was not always happy or content in those days, but He was taking care of me, even when I was not paying attention. In recent years, my lack of contentment and peace drove me back to Him in ways that I had not expected. It has been a difficult learning process, but the contentment is taking shape and form and my concern about the essentials is waning. It may just be that I am at that time of life where one takes inventory and gets ready to meet Him. Whatever. I am reliant on Him. I cannot live without Him. 

Peace and hope are major gifts in this life. He has given me both.

Do you want some of that? He is waiting to hear from you. 

Blog Traffic Is Heavy Today

I'm not sure what's going on, but there seems to be excessive traffic on the blog today. The Russians are particularly active. I cannot help but wonder if the various intelligence services are doing security sweeps of the internet. Here's what it looks like.This is a very unusual pattern for TDGH.

Entry	Pageviews
United States	65
Russia	31
France	8
Germany	2

A Christmas Report

Well, it was good to see Dad's side of the family on Friday. All seemed to be well, or at the very least, much better than it was in November for them. We went to Alison and Hal's, which was a change, for the usual Spaghetti dinner. Aunt Mel had hip surgery. She seems to be recovering in good fashion and she was glad to see me. Maybe it was the pain meds, but when people are glad to see me, I will take it, drug induced or otherwise. :^) All kidding aside, she seems to be recovering well. Her progress is encouraging. Praise the Lord for that!

Uncle Dick made the spaghetti sauce. It was excellent. There was a choice of regular and spicy. I had some of both. They were of excellent quality. Two plates full for me and many others. The meat balls and Italian sausage were excellent too. Special thanks to Hal for helping to boil the pasta. It was as it is supposed to be - aldente! And thanks Alison for the bread and salad.

Many cousins and 2nd cousins were present. Scott and Kim and Alison and Hal have certainly learned their multiplication tables. They have more than made up for my lack of offspring. The gene pool is safe in their hands or wherever it is.

Kinsey and Stephen (hope I spelled correctly) were back from the UK. I should say that Kinsey was back. Stephen was visiting. His home is in the Mother Country. They both seem terminally happy. It must be a magical land. I will have to go over and visit some day. Maybe I can take a ferry over after I visit the Emerald Isle. Not to put too fine a point on it, but we all know there would be no England or western Europe without the Celts. If it were not for the interruption of those Vikings, all the world would be Irish by now. But I digress.

To Jeremy and Leanne and Kim and Neal, I bid you a delayed Merry Christmas. I know how much Kim must be missing me by now. We have not seen each other in years. She probably thinks I'm dead or in a nursing home. All things in good time.  

Anyway, now that I know the world is in the safe hands of my younger cousins and second cousins,
I guess I can die. I keep thinking there is something else I have to do before I can be excused. That remains to be seen, but thanks family for a good time and good food yesterday. Glad you got to see me!

I am so funny.

"When Man Forgets His Creator, He Forgets How To Create"

In his review of the most recent chapter in the celluloid operas of Star Wars, John C Wright offers some wise words. I would encourage you to read the whole thing at his blog. Be warned. If you have not seen the film, there are some apparent spoilers. For the record, I have not seen it and I will not see it. The Star Wars franchise has become a tool of the elite, one worlders. I will not go into that now.

Anyhow, in the midst of his review, Mr. Wright says this:

"Why can’t the modern Leftist tell a decent story? Even when he is copying a good and healthy-minded original scene by scene in a paint-by-numbers fashion, it turns out sick-minded.
The answer is ultimately where all ultimate answers reside, in the deep places of the soul.
When we forget God, we forget how to tell tales. I submit that when a man forgets his Creator, he forgets how to create. Anyone raised in the Church is raised with compelling and impressive stories from childhood, from the tragedy of Eden to the epic of Exodus to the divine comedy of the Resurrection to the awesome high-tech special effects extravaganza of the Apocalypse.
We conservative Christians live inside a story, and we are curious about pagan stories, seeing even there glimpses of the universal light. Pagans are never curious about any Christian story, but repelled, for darkness hates the light. Political Correctness is not a story but a political manifesto, a complaint, a call for political change, a boring sermon we’ve all heard endlessly.
Our modern story tellers live in this arid and airless and lunar landscape of lifeless policy statements. Their characters are wooden puppets, merely stand-ins for whatever current political figures are they wish to mock or applaud. Their plots are borrowed without understanding what it is they borrow."

Mr. Wright is right. Maybe you have not noticed, but prior to the early 1960's Americans were the most prolific creators and inventors on the planet. Now all we seem to be able to do is drag out what was once old and try to remake it and we do not even do a good job at that.

Look at the arts, movies, music and entertainment. Everything is a rehash of the original. Modern paintings look like they belong on Mom's refrigerator and not in a museum. Popular Music has changed very little with only occasional aberrations. Movies are remakes. TV is a vast waste land. No one writes books that will one day be classics.

Our left brains are dying. It's that place where our souls reside. We have abandoned it for a mess of technical and politically correct pottage that strangles creativity and stifles the natural urge to seek God.

Western culture needs an enema. I think God will be giving it one shortly.

     

Know Jesus, Know Peace; No Jesus, No Peace

I am aware of the bumper sticker nature of today's post title, but for me and millions of others, it is true.

Jesus gets me through the day. No matter how manic or depressed I may be, He is there encouraging me with eternal hope. Frustrations come and go. Grief visits occasionally. Feelings of dread or angst or anger or injustice or guilt plague me from time to time. But when I refocus on Jesus, when I put my hope in Him and live moment to moment in His grace, then I begin to live again.

He is my anchor in this life. Without Him I would be lost. I am so glad that He stopped by 2000 years ago to show us the way out of the weeds and into the high and fertile ground.

It's true that Christmas is not my favorite holiday. I am not convinced that it is Jesus' birthday. It is however, a good time to reflect on what He did for us while He was here.

1.) He taught us how we should live, how we should treat each other, what it means to be truly righteous and then He lived that life.

2.) He showed by His own example what it means to to sacrifice in this life for others and for God.

3.) He taught us that to be loved, we must love first.

4.) He brought us eternal hope; the knowledge that we would one day again see those we loved here that have gone on before us.

5) And He showed us His grace for the poor choices that we all make from time to time in this life.

You see, faith in Christ is not all a "pie in the sky", suffer here, glory in eternity type of thing. We can have those moments here and now. Victory is as much a state of mind or a location for the soul whether we are in the body or out of the body. We can and do enjoy that peace that passes understanding in the here and now.

This becomes a mystery passing strange to those that know us and do not believe. All I can say to you is turn your eyes toward Jesus. I do not care what your problems are with the church or with the Bible. Start with Jesus. Go to Him in prayer. Seek Him out. Find some peace and hope. Over time your tears will become tears of joy and not tears of loss.

Merry Christmas      

The Global Warming Hoax Explained for Dummies

Merry Christmas To All and To All A Goodnight

John C Wright is a sci-fi/fantasy writer with many books in print and numerous writing awards. He is also a Christian. He said this on his blog on 12/21/2015.

"The time for submission is past.
Christians have been slandered, libeled, demeaned, and buffaloed by a very small and very patient group of Leftwing zealots who have somehow convinced the world that there is no place for us in the this world: no place for our nativity scenes at Christmas, no place for Christian marriage, no place for the Ten Commandments in our courthouse decorations, no place for historical accuracy, reality or truth in our lives, and no prayers in our schools.
Enough is enough. We outnumber them. It is time to drive them from our midst, and return our civilization to being civilized.
Let us be Christendom again."

John is right and that is no pun! They must tolerate or convert. Barring one of those two outcomes, they must go.  I am tired of it. I will no longer be squeezed by the haters on the left and in other intolerant faiths. Your fascist path to social justice will fail you in the end anyway. Y'all are so done. I'm here and I'm a Christian. Deal with it.

Merry Freakin Christmas

The Day Before The Night Before Christmas and Bob Ross

That's what today is ya know. And now that we've discussed that, I want to do what I did not do yesterday; talk about yesterday morning's events.

'Events' might be too strong a word. Maybe they were coincidences or happy accidents as Bob Ross would say. Whatever they were, yesterday morning was good and that's no accident. If you do not know who Bob Ross is, all I can say is, Google him. He was a painter that gave art instruction on PBS back in the 70's and 80's. He always had an excellent attitude. You need to see one of his shows to appreciate him. The man was always happy.

Anyway, getting back to yesterday, I had coffee with another "Bob", one of the pastors at my church. This part was planned. I always like to talk to him. He is easy going, intelligent and down to earth even though his head seems to be in heaven all the time. Kind of like Bob Ross in some ways I guess.

While we were having coffee, things started happening that I do not think were accidents. There were two people that walked into the coffee shop that entered our conversation; one of which I had  befriended and another which "Bob" had befriended. We talked to both of them. One is a member of our church. The other is not. "Bob's" friend is  a local LEO and she had been to our church once. "Bob" is trying to get her to come back. I may try to help "Bob" with that. I just have to get up early enough to catch her at Caribou in the morning. I do not know for sure, but I believe she and I may well have something in common. We will see what happens. The Lord works in strange ways.

I have never been one to notice these happy accidents. I have always gone about my business, living in my head, not noticing what is going on around me. However, lately I find that somehow there are people being put in my way and I feel motivated to talk to and befriend them. This is not at all like me, but I think I am going to go with it and see what happens. The whole process seems to make me happy. Yes, odd, I know. Nevertheless, it is happening and it might all be much more than just a happy accident.

Any happy accidents in your life? Look for synchronicity. Google that one too. Very interesting topic.

Time to go to work. Hope you are done Christmas shopping. Love ya! Later.      

Monday, December 21st

Happy winter solstice. Today is the shortest day of the year in terms of daylight hours and it is also the official beginning of winter. It will mean that from here on out into the new year, day light will be on the increase. The sun will be coming back. It will soon be Ground Hog Day and then spring after that. Bring back the green. I long for the the green. Even bass are green. Kewl.

The neighbors came over last night. We had a long discussion about very little, but it was good to see them and talk...and Beverly, my cheesecake settled down and stopped jiggling about 8:30 PM and I put it in the fridge for Friday.

I'm taking Dad to the doctor today for his quarterly check up. He does not remember Dr. Smith even though he just saw him in September. Next month he goes to the heart doctor.

Talked to my friend in Kansas last night. He and his family were preparing to depart for Kirksville. I hope they find their way safely. He had some attitude last night. I will have to discuss having respect for his elders after Christmas. I suppose if you preach for a living, you deal with elders all the time and it might be possible to lose respect. Whatever. I'm sure Santa Claus is bringing him a lump of coal and switches.   

Church was good yesterday. Sunday school was informative and uneventful. In all, the weekend was good.

I feel wonderful.

What more could I want?

2016

When I was a teenager I figured out that I would be 43 years old in the year 2000. When I was 20, I did not think I would live past 30. When I was 30, I was moving air freight and not thinking about anything else. When I hit 43 I thought, "well, I made it after all". Now that I'm 58, it's going to be 2016. In a couple of weeks we will be 15 years into the new millennium.

I have to say that I am pumped. I know I'm on the down hill side of life here, but I am excited about the remaining future. Transition lies ahead for me. I think I will have something useful to do, whether I am working or retired. I want to grab the last bits of life here before the last transition and leave a mark that will take awhile to fade away. I have hope for now and eternity. Let's do this 2016 thing. I am ready.

No resolutions. No promises. No oaths. Just life lived day by day in victory. This is my goal and my challenge and I never set goals people!

I am a bit disappointed that there are no flying cars yet, but we do have drones, so I am even hopeful about that.

The sun is shining and the Son is Shining. I see no downside to this global climate change thing. The West is collapsing and I do not care. Something better may rise out of the ashes.

And friends, if Jesus comes back, all bets are off. That would be the best of all possible outcomes.

What are you thinking about next year?   

I Am Called To Faith, But Am I Called To Be Nice?

There are people in the world and in the Church that have this picture in their minds of "nice Jesus". I have had unbelievers tell me that I did not live up to the standard Jesus set for me because I was not "nice" about something. I have heard Christians come up with the same thing. "Would Jesus say that?"

All I can say is that I do not believe these people have read their New Testaments and especially the gospels.

Jesus would excoriate people regularly; particularly the religious class of His time. He would have no truck with people that would put their religious traditions before God and His law. He also had issues with religious people that would try to insert themselves between God and His people to control them.

Jesus regularly gave the Pharisees and Sadducees a beat down for their hypocrisy. Read Matthew 23. You will see what I mean. There is also Jesus' encounter with the same types in Matthew 15. Jesus is accused of violating the traditions of the elders by not washing His hands before eating. Our Lord pummels them with God's truth. Then the disciples ask Jesus in 15:12, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?”

Well duh! Do you not think that was the idea? Of course they were offended. Jesus' entire life was an offense to them

Then there were His true followers. They were not so much hypocritical as they were ignorant. Countless times in the gospels Jesus says to His own disciples, "Oh ye of little faith...". He takes them to task constantly for failing to put the pieces of reality together that He has given them so they can get the big picture of what He was (and is) trying to do. The light does not really go on for them until the Holy Spirit comes in power in Acts 2. By the time they really "get it", He is gone, but He has left them the tools to get this new kingdom, the Church, underway.

And that brings me to the apostles as they were in the early Church. Were they "nice"? Well sometimes, but I think about how Peter called down judgement on Ananias and Sapphira and how Paul would take his own Jewish brethren to task as well as the Gentile Christians and I think that Paul was not always nice.

Why do you think it is that people find the Bible so offensive? It's because it points to us and says we do not measure up and we need to repent. To be completely frank, in our age, it pisses people off.  When we put our own selves before the will of God as expressed in scripture, we can either be offended by being called out or we can submit to God in faith and seek forgiveness.

The gospel is offensive. It is not nice. It demands obedience and threatens eternal damnation to those that refuse God's will and Word.

But it also offers eternal life...

My thought is this. Surrender to Him. He loves you. Make His will your will. If you do that, all those offensive things that you might sense coming from scripture, will no longer seem so offensive.

So am I not being nice or am I just telling you the truth? Sometimes they go together don't they?

Of course, there are times when I'm really not nice. You can call me on it if you like. I will try not to accuse you of not being nice :^)  

The Duck Walk

Maybe you haven't noticed, but when we reach a certain age, we start to walk like ducks. What in the Sam Hill is that about?

I do not think I'm doing it yet, but you would say something if I was walking like a duck right?

Is it arthritis that brings this on? I used to think it was about weight. You see fat people that have to move one leg out and around the other to walk properly, but I also see senior citizens doing the duck walk that are not X-sized and I cannot figure out why they do that.

My 79 year old father seems exempt from this. He walks more like the Tim Conway 'old guy' character from the Carol Burnett show. He also looks like a question mark if you get a side profile of him on the move, and I use the term "move" very loosely. When he climbs into my Toyota, it's like watching a three toed sloth climb a tree.

I understand the slow part. It comes with age. But the duck walk puzzles me. Next time you are in a public place, watch the senior citizens and that you tell me what it's about. Maybe it's meds. It baffles me.  

Did God Set Us Up To Fail?

The short answer to that question is....maybe.

Now you who grew up in the church as I did are probably saying, "wait a minute; are you saying God is unjust or unfair?" My answer is no, I'm saying God is God. He knows way more than we do about what we think and how we are made and who we are. It was Him that gave us choice as part of our spiritual and mental abilities. He even gave us the choice of rejecting Him or accepting Him. Initially, our ancestors chose to reject His will.

I do not think that Adam and Eve wanted a life without Him on their own, but that is the path they chose when they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good an evil and their choice is forever burned into our spiritual and physical gene pool. We are the children of fallen parents.

The odd thing is that our creator still loves us even though we continue to make bad choices.

I would argue that we are the most unique creatures in all of His creation. We enjoy physicality and spirituality at the same time. We are the envy of angels and demons and a testament to God's creativity and willingness to give up divine power to those He loves. What do I mean by that?

God is sovereign over His creation. He has ultimate control. When He gave us the ability to choose and to think for ourselves, He temporarily gave up some of that sovereignty to us. God did not grant this to any other creature; not the angels and not the demons, not any animal on the face of the earth.
We should be awed by this, but instead we have used this great gift to do as we please. Even so, God still pursues us in love.

Did God know we would make bad choices? Of course He did. He is God. Was that the plan all along? Well, maybe. Probably. I think so.

Here is why I say this. While God designed us to be able to make choices, He also made us to be His children...forever. I submit that we were made in His image and likeness, but we were never intended for us to "grow up" and become Him or replace Him as we might an earthly parent. We were to be His children forever, never quite reaching adulthood, never quite maturing completely. He designed us to always and forever need Him in our lives. We were never intended to separate from Him.

So, in this sense, God did set us up to fail. It's not a bad thing or unjust or unfair. He wants us to choose submission to Him. If you can get to that point, then you can begin to see it. The most beautiful thing in the universe. Love of the eternal Parent. He has no grandchildren. We are it. And we will always need Him.