I really don’t want to get off on a rant here, but let’s review our current financial status. Let see, the debt ceiling has been raised a couple of trillion dollars which has devalued the dollar even more …oh, I guess our politicians and the liberal news media forgot to mention that didn’t they! Yeah, your dollar isn’t worth as much as it was last week because we’ve encored more debt! Our triple A financial rating, as a country, has been downgraded, something the politicians said would not happen if the debt ceiling was raised. The stock market, you know, that place where your 401K life savings is being gambled with, and the politicians said you would never lose, has nearly crashed again, deep sixing more of your retirement money just like two years ago. But according to Mr. Obama, “We’re going to pull through this”. Not if the politicians keep trying to fix it we won’t. The American public has been trying to tell Washington how to fix our financial problems for decades, but our representatives just don’t seem to want to represent the people. Rather, they are still looking for ways to make a buck for themselves. I don’t want my tax dollars building a new Afghanistan. After nine years of messing around, Osama bin Laden is dead! Pack up and come home! I think now that NASA has nothing to do except try to weasel money out of the taxpayer to find water on Mars or some other nonsensical space probe, they ought to be put to work finding affordable energy sources for the people who write their paychecks. The politicians need to get to work on balancing their budgets and finding out why a man can’t find a job, yet the oil companies are entitled to drive up the prices on everything by simply raising the price of gasoline for no apparent reason except to satisfy stockholders. If I were deemed to be “price gouging” on my retail pricing, like the oil industry, the automobile industry and other corporations, I’d probably be fined, lose my business and end up in jail. Ah, but greed is the American way now, isn’t it.
In Portland, Oregon, a seven-year-old girl’s lemonade stand was shut down by the police because she didn’t get a $120.00 business license. On the bright side, by closing her business she’s now eligible for a $108,000.00 government bailout.
[1 John 2: 1-17] A lawyer insured a box of very expensive cigars. Then he made a claim to the insurance company for, “…lose of the cigars in a series of small fires”. The insurance company paid the claim, then sued the lawyer for arson, “…intentionally setting fire to the insured property”. We seem to worry more about our physical life and what we can gain by being so wise, than we do about our spiritual life and how much wisdom is available in God’s Word. If we continue to put our faith in the world and other men, following their commands, we are going to continue to be disappointed in this life. But, if we put our faith in the Lord Jesus, following his commands, he will represent us in truth and righteousness throughout this life and the life to come. Like the lawyer, you cannot out wit God. If you try, I guarantee you will get burned in the end. Even if you feel you’re being blessed by God for the good deeds in your life, be careful, for if you’re not giving the glory to God, you’ve already received your reward in full (Matthew 6:1-4). No works, no deeds, no man, can pull you through from this life to life eternal in heaven. Only you’re obedience in the Word of God will pull you through, for salvation is found in the will and the grace of God (Ephesians 2: 1-10).
Sunday, August 07, 2011
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Snooze No More
Do you watch “America’s Got Talent”? It’s a show I normally wouldn’t watch, but this go around I happen to catch the end of the first show of the season and the introduction of the carwash guy, Landau Eugene Murphy Jr., who sings with the voice of a 40’s crooner. You’ve got to be a baby-boomer to remember the radio playing in the kitchen and hearing Bing Crosby, Perry Como, Frank Sinatra and others singing in crystal clear, seemingly effortless voice tones. Anyway, this carwash dude opened his mouth to sing and I had flash-backs of my childhood for an hour. I don’t watch the complete show, ever, because most of it is a totally ridiculous disappointment, but I’ve been trying my best to watch for this guy with the million dollar voice, because I believe he will win. Murphy had never auditioned or performed for a large audience before appearing on the talent show. He awed the judges as well as the full auditorium of people who witnessed the birth of a star. Landau took himself to a place of discomfort just to see if he really was any good and Howie Mandel guaranteed Landau his life was never going to be the same. Piers Morgan said, “…you are standing there crying because you didn’t know how good you were and now you do”. Murphy said he never expected to be received and loved by the audience in this way.
The kind-hearted hostess of an amateur musical spied a lonely-looking little man huddled in a corner of the room and paused to make conversation. “Tell me”, she asked, “do you play any musical instrument?” “Not away from home”, the little man replied. “How peculiar”, remarked the hostess. “What instrument do you play at home?” she inquired. The man replied, “Second fiddle.”
The young man who was to make his first public speech came to the podium and murmured: “My-mm-my f-f-friends, on the way to the banquet only God and I knew what I was going to say to you …and since I’ve misplaced my speech papers, now only God knows what it is I was going to say.”
The older preacher told the younger preacher that if he ever forgot the words of the marriage ceremony to start quoting scripture until he remembered. Sure enough, at the next wedding ceremony, the young man forgot. Sadly, the only scripture he could remember at the time was, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
[Hebrews 12: 14-29] I know it wasn’t the first time that Landau Murphy had sung before an audience, but it was the first time he laid it all on the line to experience a life changing event. He really didn’t know what he had to offer the world until he displayed it. His life will never be the same again. Are you still hitting the snooze button on your talents? Are you still hitting the snooze button when it comes to returning your talents to God? This is a rather difficult subject to subject people to. I have to tell you, I’ve never been happier in my life than when I turned my life over to Jesus and began using my talents to the glory of God. I discovered that no one in this world can offer me what heaven can. I discovered I can’t get to heaven or receive the blessings of heaven without the church and the Holy Spirit of God. Was I nervous to present myself before God and the church? Sure! How will I be received? Are my talents worthy of God and the church? I left worldly things behind and laid my life on the line, seeking forgiveness and a better lifestyle. I’ve been given it all in abundance.
The kind-hearted hostess of an amateur musical spied a lonely-looking little man huddled in a corner of the room and paused to make conversation. “Tell me”, she asked, “do you play any musical instrument?” “Not away from home”, the little man replied. “How peculiar”, remarked the hostess. “What instrument do you play at home?” she inquired. The man replied, “Second fiddle.”
The young man who was to make his first public speech came to the podium and murmured: “My-mm-my f-f-friends, on the way to the banquet only God and I knew what I was going to say to you …and since I’ve misplaced my speech papers, now only God knows what it is I was going to say.”
The older preacher told the younger preacher that if he ever forgot the words of the marriage ceremony to start quoting scripture until he remembered. Sure enough, at the next wedding ceremony, the young man forgot. Sadly, the only scripture he could remember at the time was, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
[Hebrews 12: 14-29] I know it wasn’t the first time that Landau Murphy had sung before an audience, but it was the first time he laid it all on the line to experience a life changing event. He really didn’t know what he had to offer the world until he displayed it. His life will never be the same again. Are you still hitting the snooze button on your talents? Are you still hitting the snooze button when it comes to returning your talents to God? This is a rather difficult subject to subject people to. I have to tell you, I’ve never been happier in my life than when I turned my life over to Jesus and began using my talents to the glory of God. I discovered that no one in this world can offer me what heaven can. I discovered I can’t get to heaven or receive the blessings of heaven without the church and the Holy Spirit of God. Was I nervous to present myself before God and the church? Sure! How will I be received? Are my talents worthy of God and the church? I left worldly things behind and laid my life on the line, seeking forgiveness and a better lifestyle. I’ve been given it all in abundance.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Share In Prayer
How hot and dry is it in Texas? A guy in Longview claims he killed a mosquito that was carrying a canteen. A man in Lubbock said the farmers had their chickens sitting on crushed ice to keep them from laying hard-boiled eggs. In Lake Palestine, a fellow caught a 20 lb catfish covered with ticks! Just this week, in Bryan, a fire hydrant was seen bribing a dog. It's so dry in Texas, Baptists are starting to baptize by sprinkling, Methodists are using wet-wipes, Presbyterians are giving out rain-checks, and the Catholics are praying for the wine to turn back into water. It will rain again, right?
Here’s something to think about. A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. Like so many her age, she considered herself to be an enlightened liberal, very much in favor of higher taxes to support more government programs, in other words, redistribution of wealth. She was deeply ashamed that her father was a staunch conservative. Based on the lectures and the occasional chat with a professor, she felt that her father had for years harbored an evil, selfish desire, to keep what he thought should be his. One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher taxes on the rich and the need for more government programs. The self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the truth and she indicated so to her father. He responded by asking how she was doing in school. Taken aback, she answered rather haughtily that she had a 4.0 GPA, and let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was taking a very difficult course load and was constantly studying, which left her no time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn't even have time for a boyfriend, and didn't really have many college friends because she spent all her time studying. Her father listened and then asked, "How is your friend Audrey doing?" She replied, "Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are easy classes, she never studies and she barely has a 2.0 GPA. She is so popular on campus; college for her is a blast. She's always invited to all the parties and lots of times she doesn't even show up for classes because she's too hung over." Her wise father asked his daughter, "Why don't you go to the Dean's office and ask him to deduct 1.0 off your GPA and give it to your friend who only has a 2.0. That way you will both have a 3.0 GPA and certainly that would be a fair and equal distribution of GPA." The daughter, visibly shocked by her father's suggestion, angrily fired back, "That's a crazy idea! How would that be fair! I've worked really hard for my grades! I've invested a lot of time, and a lot of hard work! Audrey has done next to nothing toward her degree. She played while I worked my tail off!" The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, "Welcome to the conservative side of the fence."
[1 Timothy 2:1-4 & Romans 13] Has the heat brought you to your knees? Has the drought brought you to your knees? Has the decadence in Washington brought you to your knees? How about the economic problems facing us all? If not, I suggest you get on your knees and pray. Do you want a better economy? Don’t wait on Washington, pray. Do you want better representatives in government? Don’t let someone else choose them. Pray for God to choose them. Are you tired of gangs and drugs and crime in your neighborhood? Pray them out of existence. It’s obvious we can’t do it right without Supreme guidance. Our forefathers knew it, now we’re learning all about it.
Here’s something to think about. A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. Like so many her age, she considered herself to be an enlightened liberal, very much in favor of higher taxes to support more government programs, in other words, redistribution of wealth. She was deeply ashamed that her father was a staunch conservative. Based on the lectures and the occasional chat with a professor, she felt that her father had for years harbored an evil, selfish desire, to keep what he thought should be his. One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher taxes on the rich and the need for more government programs. The self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the truth and she indicated so to her father. He responded by asking how she was doing in school. Taken aback, she answered rather haughtily that she had a 4.0 GPA, and let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was taking a very difficult course load and was constantly studying, which left her no time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn't even have time for a boyfriend, and didn't really have many college friends because she spent all her time studying. Her father listened and then asked, "How is your friend Audrey doing?" She replied, "Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are easy classes, she never studies and she barely has a 2.0 GPA. She is so popular on campus; college for her is a blast. She's always invited to all the parties and lots of times she doesn't even show up for classes because she's too hung over." Her wise father asked his daughter, "Why don't you go to the Dean's office and ask him to deduct 1.0 off your GPA and give it to your friend who only has a 2.0. That way you will both have a 3.0 GPA and certainly that would be a fair and equal distribution of GPA." The daughter, visibly shocked by her father's suggestion, angrily fired back, "That's a crazy idea! How would that be fair! I've worked really hard for my grades! I've invested a lot of time, and a lot of hard work! Audrey has done next to nothing toward her degree. She played while I worked my tail off!" The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, "Welcome to the conservative side of the fence."
[1 Timothy 2:1-4 & Romans 13] Has the heat brought you to your knees? Has the drought brought you to your knees? Has the decadence in Washington brought you to your knees? How about the economic problems facing us all? If not, I suggest you get on your knees and pray. Do you want a better economy? Don’t wait on Washington, pray. Do you want better representatives in government? Don’t let someone else choose them. Pray for God to choose them. Are you tired of gangs and drugs and crime in your neighborhood? Pray them out of existence. It’s obvious we can’t do it right without Supreme guidance. Our forefathers knew it, now we’re learning all about it.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Corn Mileage
I don’t work the automotive scene any longer, but I do understand what the manufacture is going through trying to keep up with government regulations. Things just don’t make sense anymore. For instance, gas mileage is a must these days. Since 1970 when gas was $.20 a gallon, until now, we have seen gas guzzling mandates added to our vehicles such as EGR valves, catalytic converters, revamped A/C systems that need more horsepower (by the way, the auto A/C system is being completely revamped again and it will need even more horsepower to operate it) and if all this is wasn’t enough to hold gas mileage down we now have to put up with corn ethanol which lowers you mileage average even more. And why does gas keep going up? It costs a fortune to produce ethanol! It also produces more pollutants in production than it eliminates burning in your engine. They say we’re running out of petroleum. So why keep developing products that make us use more gas? The Environmental Protection Agency is as much out of control as the rest of our government. We should have been developing electric vehicles over thirty years ago. Today we would all be driving one.
One day while his class was in the lab, the chemistry professor noticed one young man, an exchange student, repeatedly rubbing his back and stretching as if his back was really hurting him. The Prof asked the young man what was the matter. The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country’s government and install a new communist regime. In the midst of his story he asked the professor a strange question, “Do you know how to catch wild pigs?” The Prof thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line. The young man said it was no joke. “You catch them by finding a suitable place in the wild and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and start coming everyday to eat the free corn. Then you put a fence up along one side of the place and keep the corn coming. Then when the pigs are used to the short fence, add another side and so on until all four sides are fenced and the pigs are coming through a gate at one end of the place to eat free corn. Then, you slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd. Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They discover they are caught and start running around inside the fence looking for a way out. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it they have forgotten how to forage for themselves, so they accept their captivity.” The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening in America. I’ll let you figure out where the free corn is, and the legislative walls that are going up all around.
[Matthew 11: 28-30] I’m so glad that my God is not working on ulterior motives to frustrate me even more than life itself. I know exactly what to expect at the end of this life because through His Word, Jesus and the Bible, I can read and understand what my God expects of me in this life and how to prepare myself for the kind of life I want to experience after death. Jesus says I can learn from him and I can understand and above all I can remember what He teaches. That’s the same for everyone. The rules and qualifications for salvation are the same for everybody and they will never change over time. I don’t know how many more miles I have to travel in this life, but I do know my mileage continues to increase as I continue to clean up my life and live in His way.
One day while his class was in the lab, the chemistry professor noticed one young man, an exchange student, repeatedly rubbing his back and stretching as if his back was really hurting him. The Prof asked the young man what was the matter. The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country’s government and install a new communist regime. In the midst of his story he asked the professor a strange question, “Do you know how to catch wild pigs?” The Prof thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line. The young man said it was no joke. “You catch them by finding a suitable place in the wild and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and start coming everyday to eat the free corn. Then you put a fence up along one side of the place and keep the corn coming. Then when the pigs are used to the short fence, add another side and so on until all four sides are fenced and the pigs are coming through a gate at one end of the place to eat free corn. Then, you slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd. Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They discover they are caught and start running around inside the fence looking for a way out. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it they have forgotten how to forage for themselves, so they accept their captivity.” The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening in America. I’ll let you figure out where the free corn is, and the legislative walls that are going up all around.
[Matthew 11: 28-30] I’m so glad that my God is not working on ulterior motives to frustrate me even more than life itself. I know exactly what to expect at the end of this life because through His Word, Jesus and the Bible, I can read and understand what my God expects of me in this life and how to prepare myself for the kind of life I want to experience after death. Jesus says I can learn from him and I can understand and above all I can remember what He teaches. That’s the same for everyone. The rules and qualifications for salvation are the same for everybody and they will never change over time. I don’t know how many more miles I have to travel in this life, but I do know my mileage continues to increase as I continue to clean up my life and live in His way.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
America, An Object of Ridicule?
I think we all have something in our life that irritates us to no end. For some people it’s other drivers on the road. For some it’s standing in long lines that don’t seem to move very fast. Maybe what lights the fire under your pressure cooker is whining, misbehaving children sitting at the table next to yours in a restaurant. Isn’t it funny the things you think when your frustration level peaks? Malfunctioning mechanical things that I use all the time, but can’t fix, are my near breaking point. I love to fix things as to replace them, but in this modern throw-away-world it’s getting harder and harder for an honest tinkerer to find any satisfaction in his work. At the moment I’m dealing with the horizontal hold on my man cave TV. I’ve gotten tired of hitting the side of the set with my hand and have moved on to hitting the sweet spot with a chunk of petrified wood, normally used as a paper-weight. It’s getting harder to persuade the reluctant circuit board to straighten up and perform as designed by sending a mini earthquake shock through it with the paperweight. Love-taps have turned into multiple hammering on the idiot box until the picture fills the screen again. I hope I don’t do what I dream of doing before our new Wal-Mart opens. Patience will be rewarded with an upgrade.
Another thing that tends to boil my pot is the nonchalant handling of money and the miss-management of finances. Customer: “Hey! You gave me the wrong change.” Cashier: “Sir, you stepped away from the counter. There’s nothing I can do about it now.” Customer: “I just thought you might like to know you gave me twenty dollars too much, but I guess there’s nothing we can do about it now.”
Two fellows opened a butcher shop and prospered. An evangelist came through town and one of the two butchers was converted. The now obedient Christian butcher tried desperately to convert the other, but to no avail. He asked, “Why won’t you, Charlie?” The reply was... “Listen Lester, if I get religion too, who’s going to weigh the meat?”
A Sunday school teacher was teaching her class about the differences between right and wrong. “All right children, let’s take another example”, she said. “If I were to get into a man’s pocket and take his billfold with all his money without him knowing, what would I be?” With confidence, little Johnny immediately shouted, “You’d be his wife!”
[Psalm 9; Psalm 33] The exterminator called one of his clients; “I’m very sorry to tell you this, Mrs. Lee, but your check just came back, insufficient funds.” “I guess we’re even then”, she replied. “So did those ants you promised me you had driven out of my house forever.” The morals of this country are deteriorating by the generation and it’s not due to lack of resources. Our education system is failing to instill proper moral and ethic deductive reasoning into the minds of the young people who will one day own this country. The omission of the Christian religion and the teaching of God’s Word in basic education has brought US to the brink of bankruptcy and world-wide shame. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8) “But if you turn away and forsake the decrees and commands I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, then I will uproot [America] from my land, which I have given them, and will reject this [Washington] I have consecrated for my Name. I will make it a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples” (2 Chronicles 7:19-20) Is this truly the America you want your grandchildren to live in?
Another thing that tends to boil my pot is the nonchalant handling of money and the miss-management of finances. Customer: “Hey! You gave me the wrong change.” Cashier: “Sir, you stepped away from the counter. There’s nothing I can do about it now.” Customer: “I just thought you might like to know you gave me twenty dollars too much, but I guess there’s nothing we can do about it now.”
Two fellows opened a butcher shop and prospered. An evangelist came through town and one of the two butchers was converted. The now obedient Christian butcher tried desperately to convert the other, but to no avail. He asked, “Why won’t you, Charlie?” The reply was... “Listen Lester, if I get religion too, who’s going to weigh the meat?”
A Sunday school teacher was teaching her class about the differences between right and wrong. “All right children, let’s take another example”, she said. “If I were to get into a man’s pocket and take his billfold with all his money without him knowing, what would I be?” With confidence, little Johnny immediately shouted, “You’d be his wife!”
[Psalm 9; Psalm 33] The exterminator called one of his clients; “I’m very sorry to tell you this, Mrs. Lee, but your check just came back, insufficient funds.” “I guess we’re even then”, she replied. “So did those ants you promised me you had driven out of my house forever.” The morals of this country are deteriorating by the generation and it’s not due to lack of resources. Our education system is failing to instill proper moral and ethic deductive reasoning into the minds of the young people who will one day own this country. The omission of the Christian religion and the teaching of God’s Word in basic education has brought US to the brink of bankruptcy and world-wide shame. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8) “But if you turn away and forsake the decrees and commands I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, then I will uproot [America] from my land, which I have given them, and will reject this [Washington] I have consecrated for my Name. I will make it a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples” (2 Chronicles 7:19-20) Is this truly the America you want your grandchildren to live in?
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