Its a beautiful Thanksgiving morning in Midlothian, Texas. Watching the news coverage of the Mumbai terrorists attacks remind us that we have been safe for 7 years. However, New York City and the railway system of the northeast are on high alert. While relaxing this morning I watched a re-run of Roseanne and her version of Thanksgiving. It included two male homosexuals who were about to adopt a child. Roseanne's mother had a fit, but guess what, she turned out to be a closet lesbian. Then there was a school play that showed the indians hosting the pilgrims for a holiday meal only to be slaughtered by the pilgrims. The pilgrims were also patriarchal and abusive of their wives. The indians taught them that to believe in a male god rather than in mother earth would lead to such abuse. I guess I should be thankful for such intelligent input to help me celebrate Thanksgiving.

It takes the Roseannes of the world to help me remember how thankful I should be. Our country is not perfect and our history is not holy, but without our past we would not be enjoying the present. Oh we have problems. The economy is in crisis, but even the economy would not be in nearly as much crisis were it not for 24/7 news coverage focusing on every conceivable negative they can surface. Real and not revisionist history will reveal just how different the present situation is from that of 1929. If you could choose any country of the world, where would you rather live than America.

As for me and my household, we will be thankful that we live where we live and continue to believe that our God has blessed us.

Thanksgiving is the second most important holiday of the year for most Americans and Christians. Families get together to overeat and watch football, well at least some family members do. Others browse the sales available the next day, black Friday. However, most of us at least give some attention to the name thanksgiving and express thoughts and prayers affirming our appreciation for America and the blessings God has bestowed upon this land. In some ways its far more comforting to look to the past than to look to the future. Of course if we look far enough into the future, we can find great hope and comfort.

Holidays such as thanksgiving and christmas remind us of where we are in America. The parents in California who are protesting the two kindergartens where children are dressing up like pilgrims and indians to eat a thanksgiving meal together in peace. Protestors feel such activity is a sad reminder to native Americans of the abuse their forefathers experienced at the hands of the Europeans when they arrived on this continent. I wonder how many of the protestors are native Americans. At least one native American mother with children in the school involved was on TV protesting the protestors. She wanted her children to enjoy the experience and did not see it as a painful debilitating experience.

Recently Steve Colbert on the Colbert Report on the Comedy channel, began the annual attack on Christmas. Every year we hear how devastating Christmas can be for atheists, muslims, and other non-christians. Do we as Christians feel humiliation because of atheists and muslims? I don't. I believe in a pluralistic democracy where freedom of speech is protected by the constitution. All religions have opportunity to celebrate the holidays or special holy days of their choice. I don't go into mourning during the celebration of hanakah. It seems that the only words and events that are threatening to others are those associated with christianity or patriotism.

Tomorrow I'm going to forget about what others think of me and christians. I'm planning to enjoy my freedoms and blessings by sharing an abundance of turkey, dressing and football. Friday I will confess my sin and fast (or not). If any are still reading this blog, may I encourage you to celebrate our forefathers faith and enjoy the blessing of family.

Good morning. It was 32 degrees early this morning and the sky is beautiful. God's creation is such wonderful place to live. However, I expect that the new heavens and earth that constitute our ultimate homeland will be infinitely greater because not only will we have the beauty, but we will have it without the storms of life that we now experience.

Since the election its been interesting to read the views of those who are counselling the Republican party on how to recover their lost influence. Some suggest the party forsook the social conservatives( translated"conservative christians"), and as a result they lost support. Others suggest that the selection of Sarah Palin was an effort to placate the social conservatives, but served to alienate the fiscal and foreign policy conservatives. Some suggest the party needs to move to the middle while others recommend it return to its roots. All of those making the suggestions seem to think views matter, but I wonder if they really influence the election in the 21st century.

In the first couple of centuries of our history, views were important in determining elections, but even then views were only one element among many that determined the outcome of elections. Why have most presidents been taller than your average citizen? Think its just coincidence! Do you think that Danny Devito could ever be elected president(and don't ruin my argument by appealing to his credentials"?

As America has moved from the era of print media to the era of the visual, requirements for the presidency has changed. Younger, better looking, and taller candidates tend to win. The Nixon - Kennedy debate signalled a shift from positions to posture and appearance. Its not what you say but how you say it. Its personality not positions. Did you hear some of the interviews conducted with voters who had just voted. They were not up to speed on the issues, but they knew who they liked better. The likeability factor is more important than complex issues or past positions.

Now my advice to either party would be to conduct a personality contest instead of a primary to select a candidate for president. Candidates would be judged by the wow factor. Does the opposite sex find the candidate extremely attractive, mildly attractive or just downright boring? Check the height of the candidate against candidates in the other party. Maybe a multiethnic panel could judge the potential candidate on the basis of looks, humor, height, smile, communication skills, walk, beauty of the candidate's family and what blessings he will promise those who vote for him. Once a candidate has excelled in each of those categories, he may be judged as presidential and offered to the public for viewing.

What does one believe and what will he do? Such questions are relics of a print era past and have no place in the visual world of the 21st century. If I'm right then the present input offered by reformation pundits is worthless. They just don't get it!

By the way churches in search of a preacher might want to consider the above approach. Oh, you say this is old news successful churches have been following this approach for several years. Take a look at some of the best known preachers among us, were the churches drawn to the preacher because of his knowledge and commitment or because of his appearance and style? Maypearl can never be accused of being part of the visual age because if you've ever seen their preacher.....I can't stand myself when that honest gene takes over.

About an hour ago I spoke with my financial advisor. According to the latest value of my retirement investments I have lost about 50% of my retirement in 4 months. I have no social security benefits so my entire savings are in this investment. Right now we could live about 10 months on what is left. Would all join me in a verse of "sing and be happy"?

As christians we should know that this world can never guarantee us security. Social security is security only as long as long as it remains solvent. In the Old Testament God taught His people over and over that money, land, ancestors, or government can provide only an illusory security. I, as much as anyone else need to learn and re-learn the fact that my confidence must be in God and His reign rather than in this world.

I, like my brothers and sisters want to provide a quality education for my daughter, and braces for her teeth. fashionable clothes and on and on and on. However, as we approach Thanksgiving and Christmas I am reminded that there are still more important realities. I have much to be thankful for and may I "seek first His kingdom" and truly believe that He will add whatever He perceives my wife, daughter and I need. May I continue to look out to those around me who are in more dire straits than I am, and may I offer a helping hand to them. These are the thoughts that I trust God will impress upon my mind and heart because without Him doing so, I will wallow in fear and self pity, forgetting how blessed I truly am.

May we continue to pray for our country and its people. I think we may be in greater need than any of us are willing to acknowledge.

Well, its been eight days and we've had time to reflect and consider the future of an Obama administration. Whatever it brings, we must as Christians realize that there are things more important than who becomes president of the these United States. As important as that is, we are citizens of a greater country.

Our no.1 enemy is not Iran and missiles it might acquire nor socialism nor islamic fascism. If we could eradicate the world of all evil governments that threaten our existence, we would not have dealt with our primary enemy. Satan is not frightened by our nation's military might.

The kingdom of God is bigger than America and stronger than America. Yet sometimes we forget that truth that's embraced only by faith. When John the Baptist came preaching "The kingdom of God is at hand", he thought he knew what it would look like when it appeared, but in Matthew chapter 11 we discover that he was wrong. He thought that in light of the Old Testament prophets the kingdom would express itself with great power which would overpower Rome and institute rule from Jerusalem. Some still long for that realization as shown by the "left behind books" of Tim Lahaye. When Jesus did not initiate an overpowering assault upon Rome, John wondered if he was really the Messiah. John's disciples posed the question to Jesus "Are you the one promised are should we look for another?". Jesus responded by pointing the disciples of John to Isaiah 61. "Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me."(matt.11:4f.)

Later in chapter 13 of Matthew's gospel. Jesus instructs his disciples about the mystery of the kingdom. "The disciples came to him and asked, 'why do you speak to the people in parables?"

"He replied, 'The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them."..

What is the mystery or secret? The kingdom is like a sower who went forth to sow. The kingdom is not like missiles and bombs, but like sowing seed. Some respond and produce fruit while other seed is unfruitful not because of the seed, but because of the soil. The kingdom comes by preaching and response rather than by force. John didn't know this secret. He was puzzled because of the lack of force.

The kingdom is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. when the wheat sprouted and formed heads. then the weeds also appeared. The owner's servants came to him and said, 'Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from? An enemy did this' he replied. The servants asked him,' Do you want us to go and pull them up?" 'No', he answered 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn." Later in the chapter Jesus explains the meaning. The field is the world(v38) the good seed are "sons of the kingdom" and the weeds are "sons of the evil one". The harvest is the end of the age.

This parable is not about the church that contains both faithful and unfaithful but it is about the world which contains kingdom people as well as those who could care less about the kingdom of God. God is not in the period of sowing going to overthrow the wicked. John the harvest is later and not now. The kingdom is both present as in Col:1 11ff/ and future as in 2 Tim.4:1. The mystery is that the kingdom in the present is not for judgment but for salvation. John said the Messiah would baptize with the Spirit and with fire. The present is the Spirit which indwells all sons of the kingdom and the future harvest will come with great power that will impress John as well as the angels of heaven. Then every knee will bow, now we choose whether to honor Him or not. The kingdom today grows by persuasion not by power.

Jesus goes on to say the kingdom is like a mustard seed. It comes appearing insignificant and unimpressive "where's the power?". Should we look for another?

Jesus was humble, son of a carpenter, born in Nazareth and without home or bank account. No wonder that most ancient histories hardly even mention him. Yet the kingdom he brings is like a precious pearl or hiddent treasure. To those who embrace the reign of God, they realize nothing else is as important. No wonder that in the beatitudes he describes his followers and the blessed as"poor, humble, meek, merciful, forgiving, peacemakers , hungering and thirtsing for justice in the world, and persecuted by those who oppose such kingdom people as they live among citizens of the world."

As we seek kingdom truths first and the reign of God as a growing reality we are less traumatized by the events of kingdoms of the world. "Thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" which is our homeland. Praying for the kingdom to come is a prayer for God's rule to expand. Most of the time the word basileia rendered "kingdom" should be rendered reign. It refers to a rule and not a realm.

The kingdom comes not through political parties, or massive crowds of people, but like a mustard seed. Its coming is unassuming and humble, but its end will be powerful beyond anything we can imagine. Nuclear power will be like a spitwad when compared to the harvest power of the future, but for now our role is to sow the seed and watch the hidden power work withinthe hearts of changed people.

"Redeem the time; redeem the dream" (T.S. Eliot). According to Arnold Toynbee, the historian, cultures and civilizations develop and die. The process is one of challenge and response. A culture is challenged in some way and it either responds and overcomes the challenge or the culture dies and something else replaces it. Today, we are faced with plenty of challenges and it remains to be seen if we can respond so as to preserve and even strengthen the good that remains in our country.

Russell Kirk writes:"No culture endures forever: Of those that have vanished, some have fallen to alien conquerors, as did Roman Britain; but most have expired in consequence of internal decay. When the cult failed, the culture presently crumbled to powder". Kirk is using "cult" in the scholarly sense of "religion". Kirk adds that "great cultures commonly pass through alternating periods of decay and renewal, flickering out finally after many centuries".

The mandate for the christians in America is to shine as light in our culture and call for moral renewal and thereby a strenghtening of our people. It matters little if we are in the minority or majority, God can work through one, a few or many. In the Old Testament God called Isaiah to remind His people that only a remnant would keep covenant with Him. Yet through that remnant the messiah came into the world and through the Jewish remnant of 12 apostles and a handful of followers of Jesus, the world was turned upside down. Our culture of the past 200 + years owes much to those remnants of the cult from the past.

Father may we dedicate ourselves to remnant living in order that the light of a culture influenced by christianity will not go out, but will once again burn brightly to your glory>

We are awaiting what forecasters believe will be a stormy night in North Central Texas. We shall see.

It was disappointing to learn that the student newspaper at ACU, on the day before the election, endorsed Barack Obama, but again should we be surprised? Those of us who are alumni wish it were not so, but the liberal agenda is not a phenomenon of state schools only. Our Christian universities have discovered that we will complain but send our children to them in spite of the trends. When colleges reach university status, their association with other academic institutions carries more weight than their relationship with churches. Institutions of higher learning will not be held in high esteem if they appear too conservative religiously or politically. To be too conservative is to be closed minded and who wants that stigma attached to them. Conservative and intellectual are polar opposites as far as higher education is concerned. This is a significant reason that our country is moving left.

I hope that those who take the time to read the above will be blessed with a good evening and restful night.

Now that the election is over, we need to re-center our minds and hearts upon our primary mission of bringing Christ to our world, nation and community. I want to challenge my few readers to think with me and share with me your thoughts. We have means avaiable to us today that christians of the past could not have even imagined. How do we appropriate and harness those means to accomplish our goal of outreach?

It seems to me that we are far better than we used to be in addressing the poor and downtrodden with the gospel. There was a time when people so feared the so-called social gospel that we were afraid to help the poor. After all we have the poor with us always. Our mission seemed greater. We are to save the soul and not the life of the poor. What we often did was surrender both. Now I think christians are more aware that man is whole and cannot easily be rent asunder so that we could address one part and not the other. If we ignore the physical and social plight of an individual, he has no reason to believe we have any interest in him except to add numbers to our church directory. The poor will hear our rhetoric about love, but will fail to feel loved. As I say I think churches are trying harder than we once did to express love of the whole person. The Maypearl Church of Christ has scheduled our annual christmas party and this year rather than just inviting our members, we are asking the members to invite someone or a family that might not have many social opportunities or finances that would even allow them to eat out.

As I say I think we are making progress in outreach to the poor, but we are not making much progress in reaching the more fortunate in our community. Those with more money and more education seem to strike fear in us. We have already written them off. Do we believe that Christ is appealing to and needed by only the poor and in many instances the less educated of our community. I think as a church we need to be an equal opportunity communicate and not discriminate against any group. We must not allow fear or lack of creativity prevent us from reaching out to certain elements of our community.

Share with me any ideas that you have seen work or that upon reflection, you think my work in reaching any part of society, especially the more affuent and the more educated. At the same time share any ideas that you think would make outreach to the poor, who many times do not have the education opportunies that others might have,more effective.

Ronnie

Thought we might be sobered by the following poem appearing on the Constructive Curmudgeon's blog. Douglas Grouthius, a christian philosopher and professor is the Constructive Curdmudgeon.

Weep
Weep for America,
you who have tears
left for truth.

Weep for the continued
and soon to be intensified
slaughter of the innocent.

Weep for the supernatural
stupefaction that has
overtaken us.

Weep that character
no longer counts
that image is everything.

Weep that America
has forgotten her birthright

Weep

I don't expect you to read all of my blog today. I'm trying to sort through my thoughts and doing it through a stream of consciousness expressed in my writing. So my writing is my way of organizing my thoughts and should you decide you have nothing better to do, then I invite you to tune into my evaluation and share with me yours, as well as your thoughts on mine.

Why did yesterday happen? I've already touched on the obvious in my earlier blog, but now I want to do a bit of cultural analysis that helps explain for me what happened and is happening and will happen in the future unless trends are reversed. Our country has in the past decade and a half grown more liberal and cynical. From 1994 to 2007 the following trends are documented by surveys of Americans by Pew Research Center:
1. Government should care for the poor and needy(from 57% to 69%). Once upon a time such people were cared for by charitable organizations, churches, and neighborhoods. More and more people believe such care is a legitimate function of government. I certainly believe there are times when government needs to offer assistance, but in general this should not be the primary function of government. Furthermore Katrina proved that government is seldom the most efficient means of administering immediate help.

2. Traditional marriage and family values have declined from 84% to 76%. People still have a more or less traditional view, but the realities before them is that marriages and families are losing their traditional place in our culture.

3. In 1999 55% of Americans said that prayer was important to their daily life. By 2007 that number had decreased to 45%. Thus America is becoming a more secular country. This is also evidenced by the fact that in 1994, 72% of Americans said they had no doubt that God exists, while in 2007 that number had decreased to 61%. These stats evidence the fact that the influence of the Christian faith is not where it was a few years ago. This also evidences the influence of the recent flood of books promoting a more aggressive form of athiesm by such authors as Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins. All of these books became best sellers.

4. Democrats outnumber Republicans by 50 to 35%. The only annual stats that show Republicans outnumbering Democrats was 1991 and1995. This means that if Republicans are to win national elections they have to outwork and out argue the Democrats. That's why it is so hard for the Republicans to win against a charismatic personality like Obama. There is already a tendency for America to go democratic and if they have an impressive candidate its hard for them to lose.

One other stat I should have mentioned under 3 is that citizens identifying with athiesm, agnosticism or no religion has increased from 8% in 1987 to 9% in 1997 to 12% in 2007. You will note that the increase of nontheists and antitheists in America is increasing more rapidly today than it was in the 80's and 90's.

5. How many agree with this statement "Americans can find a way to solve whatever problems the country encounters"? From 2002 to 2007, the % believing the answer is yes declined 16%. This tells us that Americans are far less confident than we once were in our country's future and that we are more cynical concerning American creativity and ingenuity than in the past.

How did we get here? What's going on in society? Why do we have less faith in God and in America? The following factors weigh heavily in my explanation.

1. Control of the major idea shaping and values shaping media are in the control of those who have little faith in God or America. Higher education, news media and movie makers are all far more liberal and faithless than the average American, but their views bombard the public and slowly but surely America begins to echo the ideas and values of these culture creators.

2. The dissolution of the American family and the transitioning of mind shaping from family to hollywood and public schools are also trending young people in a much more liberal direction with growing disrespect for America and its founders, as well as God and the churches.

If time would allow and if I thought anyone would really care to read it, we could expound endlessly upon illustrations of the above, but I know I'm preaching to the choir.

What about the future and what can we do? We must stay informed and continue to recognize the importance of our freedom of speech. We must speak or forever remain silent. If we do not take advantage of our freedom by using it for good, we will eventually lose it. We need to be courageous in our witness for God and in our articulation of ideas consistent with God's word. The enemy would like to marginalize christianity as a realm belonging to ignorant and uninformed people. They tried to do that with Sarah Palin, accusing her of trying to censor books and being an advocate of creationism and dedicated to removing the theory of evolution from our education system. Movies like Religiouslous by Bill Mayer and the books by Hitchens, Harris and Dawkins take the most extreme religious views and try to paint with a broad brush all christians as of the same genre. I think its ridiculous for christians to wage war against children being exposed to the theory of evolution. Instead we should argue for open discussion and the opportunity for intelligent design and the possibility for credible theories other than naturalistic evolution. Such a view I'm sure is what Sarah Palin would defend, but she is caricatatured as an ignorant extremist.

Several years ago the church historian Mark Noll wrote a book entitled THE SCANDAL OF THE EVANGELICAL MIND which took to task conservative religious leaders for some of the mindless and thoughtless positions we have taken over the years that have hurt our credidility. With many christians Hollywood and higher education have simply been written off as belonging to the enemy. We cannot hope to compete in the mind shaping industry of our country if we narrowly confine our christian world to the church building and those areas that pose no threat to us. Our neighbors visit the theater far more frequently than they visit our churches. They will send their children to public schools and colleges before they will send or carry them to church. If we don't compete in the market place of ideas we will lose by default. We must not be content with simplistic answers that satisfy no one but ourselves and those who are like us.

We must read quality literature and encourage others to do the same. We must prepare to engage Athiests, agnostics and secularists in intelligent discussion and not bow out as soon as they challenge our faith. Read authors like Dinesh D'souza who has taken on the best known athiests in debate. We are not in a battle about instruments of music or the millenium we are in a battle for the existence of God and the reality of the historical Jesus. The days are long past when we could influence someone by simply saying the bible says. Today, people will answer "so what" to our assertion that "the bible says". Many times we talk to ourselves with arguments that might have worked in the 50's, but the discussion has moved far beyond those issues and sometimes we continue answering questions that are not being asked and so we look and sound irrelevant and out of touch. We must be informed and help our children and grandchildren to become informed as they grow and mature.

Churches need to challenge youth to enter the world of the arts and higher education as missionaries. We worry that they will be tempted and fall. Where is our faith? If we surrender all areas that contain temptation, we will have to exit this world. Temptation is as strong in the church as in the classroom.

Conservatives and Christians must outthink and outbehave those with whom we disagree and most of all we must outpray those who may be blinded by the father of lies.

The sky is falling! The sky is falling! I think we all knew in our heart of hearts that the results would be as they were. In my lifetime the only other presidential candidate who approached the level of charismatic appeal of Obama was John Kennedy. Reagan had an appeal that I guess one could characterize as charismatic, but I prefer to attribute to his simple and straightforward presentation of conservative ideas and values.



We must all admit that Barak Obama is one of the most gifted communicators that we have ever seen in the political arena. His gifted presentations don't make him anymore right than anyone else, but it makes him more appealing. I think that appeal and the charmed existence he experienced in the world of journalism and the media were enough to overcome any argument that might be mounted against him or his views. I must also tip my hat to his campaign and its grassroots organization. He outmanned and outperformed the McCain campaign. Thus I must reluctantly admit that in some ways he deserved to win. That doesn't change at all my concern for our country and the future.



I have actually grown in my respect for McCain through the campaign. He's no messiah and as a human makes mistakes, but I greatly admire his character and his service to our great country.



What have we learned that might help conservatives in the future? We have learned that our country and its people have changed. We deceive ourselves if we believe that most people are conservative, but were just mesmorized by Obama. The Pew Research Center has polled our country every year for the past 20 or so years so trends could be determined. For the past four years there has been a significant turn leftward. Why? When I get to the office, I will give my answer to that question, and will look forward to your input.



Until then,

I must confess I've had a bit of anxiety today. Faith does not free us of concern for our family, country and the future on earth. Well, I'm headed home to watch the results. Will blog in the morning. Please be available in case I need counselling.

There is a fable that helps illustrate some of what has been happening in the presidential debates. In the fable, a dog has a bone in his mouth and upon coming in contact with a pool of water, looks into the pool and discovers what appears to be another dog with even a bigger bone in his mouth. The dog with the bone liked the idea of a bigger bone so he turned loose of his bone and reached in the water for the other bone. The result was that he lost his bone and discovered to his dismay that the water bone was not real after all. The point is that we often lose the attainable by seeking for the unattainable.

I rather think that may be the plight of the 40% of non taxpayers who are impressed with the promise of receiving a check from the IRS without having paid any taxes. Doesn't it seem more just if we take from the wealthy and give to the needy.

What happens, however, if the jobs that provide minimum income, but at least income dry up because the wealthy in order to maintain that wealth have to cut back payroll and benefits. Then the income from the wealthy decreases unless their taxes are raised even more and even more jobs are lost and the non taxpayers numbers will increase from 40% to 50, or even more. The payers become less and the amount paid becomes less while the needy become more and more. It might be better to hold on to what we have rather than look into a dream pool which seems to offer bigger benefits only to prove to be an illsion.

In America we are committed to justice and many times with the best of intentions we want to help the disadvantaged only to discover that the justice we seek is beyond humans to produce and in the process we become less just. In our effort to manipulate the system to increase justice we quite often ignore the innocent and create more injustice for innocent victims than we eliminate.

In law enforcement, our courts decided that criminals were not being treated equally by law enforcement officers. Thus the Miranda rights were introduced requiring that suspects who were being arrested should be reminded of their right to silence. After all, experienced criminals learned the hard way not to talk, but novices who were just beginning their criminal life style did not have the sreet savvy and would often confess. Our courts decided it was not fair that career criminals had an advantage over beginners. The forgotten group was the innocent victims of criminal behavior and those who would witness their attackers going free because of a question concerning reading his rights or some other minor technicality in the securing of evidence that clearly indicts the suspect. No wonder America has become less safe.

Thoma Sowell, a black philosopher, has come under attack from many of the black leaders in America because he refuses to blame the breakup of the black families and the greater share of social and financial problems they experience upon the results of slavery. He points out that until the sixties divorce rates and marriage breakups in the black community were consistent with the numbers of the white community. Slavery had been over for a hundred years. He further noted that immigration from Africa to America was and had been for decades higher than the number of black Americans immigrating to Africa. He points out that their standared of living and opportunites are far greater than they would have been had they remained in Africa.

America should provide and defend equal opportunity for all citizens regardless of race or creed. However, when the American government moves from providing safeguards for equal opportunity and begins promising equal outcome for all regardless of whether they have taken advantage of their opportunities or not, we are travelling a dangerous path and the innocent will suffer and the outcomes will be good only for those making the promises and not for those having to live with the processes introduced to effect the change.

Affirmative action is another example of taking away privileges earned by hard work and offering them to people who may be less equipped to saisfy the demands of a challenging curriculum. Parents who work hard and children who work hard in quest of a quality education can be denied the opportunity in order to try and compensate for perceived disadvantages suffered by a minority in the past. Entrance exams are dumbed down and grading is dumbed down in order to assure a successful outcome.
Then employers are disappointed because graduates with good transcripts can't perform. Our graduates when compared with graduates in other industrialized and technologically advanced countries do poorly, and we become less competitive in the global market place. The result is that all suffer including those whose deprivations we were attempting to address. We best help the needy not by redistribution of the wealth but providing equal opportunity for success to those who will study hard and work hard. Most of America's wealth is not in the hands of inherited aristocracy but in the hands of people who grew up in a middle or even low income home. Yet, their family and often their faith encouraged them to not become victims caught in the trap of the status quo, but to dream and to work to turn those dreams into reality.

Where else on the planet do such opportunities exist?Which country in the world would you rather live in than The good ol' USof A. What's is good for America is good for all Americans. If we begin encouraging class envy and begin drafting legislation designed to bring about equal outcomes rather than protecting life, liberty, property and equal opportunity we will see more and more incentive killed from equal opportunity employers and more and more incentive to reach out our hands. The only people thriving will be the people we have empowered by the loss of our own power granted by freedom and equal opportunity.

This was a great week-end. Most of you already know that my daughter Haylee was baptized Saturday evening. The previ0us week-end she had gone to help in the church under the bridge in Waco. This church ministers to the homeless in Waco and each Sunday has a worship service and a meal for the homeless. One of our youth leaders had gathered the teens in a circle and asked various members of the youth group to read aloud certain scriptures. He asked Haylee to read aloud Gal.2:20 which includes "I have been crucified with Christ", Haylee respectfully declined to read the text. The youth leader in a state of shock asked her why she would not read it and she replied "because I have not been crucified with him and don't believe I should say something that's not true of me".

Now its true of her and immediately following her baptism we all read Gal.2:20 aloud and in unison. Haylee joined with us. It was a thrill for her mom and dad, as well as others who were present at her baptism


Please pray for her and that she will be a powerful influence for the Lord.

rd

rd ramblings and reflections

Sometimes I try to think in terms of the big picture and most of the time my mind is overwhelmed because the big picture includes God and trying to figure out what He might be doing behind the scenes is beyond human comprehension except for maybe an occasional glimpse from precedents in the past. Yet faith requires that I not assume that humankind is in the driver's seat of world affairs. Thus as the election approaches I ask myself if God is involved in the process and if so what might His will be for the outcome and the consequences that would seem to follow.. Admittedly such analysis is speculative and some would say worthless. If you are of such a mind, then turn on Fox or go to Drudge where speculation doesn't include God. Maybe such is safer and more spiritual. You be the judge, but for those who have little to do and who believe God might be ok with such speculation then continue to read and let me know what you think.

First, I believe in God's providence. I don't believe that everything that happens is determined solely by man's thoughts and actions. When the ir0n curtain came down so unexpectedly and confounded all the experts in 1989, I believe God's providence was involved. When Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt, I believe human thought and action precipitated the event, but that God brought together the circumstances in such a way that the sell of Joseph happened in order to accomplish a purpose of God that transcended Joseph's experience. I wonder if God has some purpose in mind beyond election Tuesday that might transcend America and our personal lives. Could it be that God has some purpose beyond the national boundaries of the United States.

I'm sure leaders of Iran would answer yes to my last question and would argue that Allah wants America with its infidels to decline into an economic and violent abyss. Obviously I disagree with such an assessment, but we must remember that there are millions who are praying to their God and working to see that their prayer becomes reality.

Second. consider some of the events of the past couple of months leading up to the election. After the Republican convention and McCain's selection the polls showed McCain with a lead. The surge was working and at that time Iraq was the big issue in the minds of Americans. Then unexpectedly and overnight the bottom fell out of the economy. Who predicted it? Why did it happen when it did? Coincidence. maybe! Providence, surely we don't rule out that possibility. If it did have to do with a stategy of God, then we ask "what is God up to"? Why would He rig the election so that Obama would win? Doesn't He know that those of us who are serving Him are fearful of the consequences of an Obama administration , especially as it may impinge upon certain freedoms in our land such as freedom of religion to speak as the bible speaks even on such subjects as homosexuality and gay marriage. Surely God agrees with us Roe vs Wade opened up the floodgates of death and needs to be overturned, but that such will not happen in our lifetime if Obama is elected.

Just as with Joseph, God may have a salvation strategy that we are unable to comprehend that even transcends the immediate critical issue of life. Is such possible? As important as life is, could there be anything more important. From a human standpoint my answer would be no, but from an eternal standpoint, my answer would be yes. Eternal life is even more important then life in this world. The infants in the womb are ok eternally, but millions and billions of lives outside the womb are not ok eternally. The message of Christ and his mission of salvation may in God's sight transcend the issues of American politics.

Over the past decade or two some amazing things have been happening. The center of Christian influence has been moving south and east . For several hundred years the center of Christian influence and mission was the west (Europe and America). Look at the great cathedrals of Western Europe, they are museums with memories of a christian past. America's christianity has become soft and watered down into a nice comfortable cultural community not much different from other therapeutic communites such as AA. God blessed America and I believe His providence made it possible for America to win the revolutionary war and prosper under a constitutional form of government, but today we have forgotten. God warned Israel through Moses that after they entered the promised land they would be tempted to forget who brought them there and even begin to worship other gods and give them the credit for their prosperity and plenty. Hundreds of years later in Hosea, chapter two, Hosea writes that Israel had forgotten who brought her to the land and had committed spiritual adultery by going after other gods.

Have we forgotten? For a few days following 9-11 we briefly remembered. Even congress remembered as law makers gathered on the steps of the capital to sing of how God had blessed America and pray that He would do so again. However, repentance did not come and remebrance was short lived.

Maybe its time for God to raise up His people in other lands and to move our prosperity south and east where people with greater enthusiam and commitment will carry His torch in the world and bring the message of Christ to the world. Maybe christianity in America has followed after the baals of our culture. Just as Israel did, we call the baals by the name of Yahweh but our God is not really to be identified with the God who brought us here.

Technology, entertainment. prosperity and comfort have replaced the Christ who calls us to the cross. Maybe we are to be brought back to the cross for the sake of the world, and if we refuse the journey back God will reach the world from the south and the east while we fade into the museums of the past.

I obviously have no confidence in my speculations because I'm not God or a prophet, but I do have some historical patterns from the past that suggest that my speculation is not without basis. Is such speculation alarming and disquieting, sure it is. False prophets of old preached peace because they found that people had rather be comforted than alarmed, and usuallly paid the preacher better when they heard "peace, peace" rather than"repentance, judgment".

My prayer is that the above speculation is wrong and that Tuesday will be a day we can celebrate because of a victory that in our humble estimation will be best for America and Christianiy. However, if we are disappointed may we remember that we are a kingdom people even before we are Americans and that we may still believe that God's kingdom can and will prosper if we continue to serve our king and pray for His people not just in America, but to the south, east , north and west. "Thy kingdom(reign) continue to come and expand".