Politics and Religion

Well I have always heard that these are two topics that you should not talk about in polite company. There is sure to be argument if you bring up either subject since people seem to be so divided on both issues. But should we as believers really hide our political feelings/leanings so we don't offend anyone who might believe differently? Or should we be open about what we believe in the hopes that they might come to believe the same way and make it easier for "our team" to win? Quite honestly I don't know the correct answer to that one, but I tend to make my feelings known on both Facebook and Twitter. So if you are curious about which way I lean, you can easily find out by reading through my posts. But you can't find out the little nuances of "how I lean" by doing so, therefore I'm still not sure that it makes sense to "go public" with what you believe.
For instance, if you kept up with most of my Facebook and Twitter posts lately you would find out that the debt limit issue is one I have strong opinions about. By reading those posts you might come to the conclusion that I am a very right leaning Republican. And I wouldn't challenge that label. In many ways I suppose I am very right leaning. I'm not so sure about the Republican part though. Maybe Libertarian would fit better, or Reagan Conservative, or Fiscal Conservative. Oh, I don't know, all of these labels make me nuts. What I do know is that I get pretty upset when I hear Democrats using the term "fairness" during these debates. What is "fair" about taking money from one person who worked hard to earn that money to care for their family, and giving it to someone else, who may or may not have done anything to put themselves in the situation that they are in. Another term that I link closely to that "fairness" is the term "more fortunate", as in saying that those of us who are "more fortunate" than others should give our fair share to those who are "less fortunate". I beg to differ with these people, but there is nothing "more fortunate" about where I am in life. I am where I am in life because of the decisions that I made. There have been many times in my life when things were a lot tougher financially than they are now, and that was also because of the decisions I made in life. Some of those decisions were choosing to drink, to use drugs, to smoke cigarettes, and not to go to school to further my education. All of those decisions affected my bottom line negatively. Booze and drugs aren't cheap. Neither are cigarettes. Not to mention the negative impact that boozing and drugging tend to have on your ability to obtain and keep good employment. Was it someone else's fault that I made those decisions? Absolutely not. Neither should it have been there responsibility to bail me out of the mess that I got myself into by making those decisions. The refusal to continue my education was just laziness. It was not the result of an inability to learn, I made straight A's in school and could absorb new material easily. And I "tested" well. No, my decision not to continue my education beyond high school was my own, made out of boredom with school at the time. I joined the military instead and then when I got out of the Army I took the easy route out and worked in lower paying jobs because they were easily obtainable and they didn't drug test as much. I could have used the GI bill to continue my education but instead I squandered the years those benefits were available to me. That was no one else's fault but mine. I married and had a child, and there were times when we struggled for a place to live and food on the table. But it was still the result of the poor decisions we were making, not because we were "less fortunate" than anyone else. When I see people who remind me of the past me it makes me a little angry. They are out looking for someone else to foot the bill for them while they languish in the world they created by their own faulty decision making processes. And while those who are truly "less fortunate" than some of us have to suffer because of program shortages, these fake "less fortunate" people continue to show up at the doctors office and the hospital looking for medical treatment. And they show up in nicer cars than the medical assistant who rooms them drives. They talk on the latest high tech cell phones that the clerical workers who maintain their records and check them out can't afford. They spend their government paychecks on tattoo's and hair styles while you and I feed their children, who all have some type of government insurance to pay for their healthcare, while the nurse who draws the blood for their health screenings struggles to make it and has to shop at the Goodwill Store to cloth her kids.
The system is broken, and perhaps beyond repair. Maybe it is time to disband it all and start all over again. For those who are truly "less fortunate" there are government programs, churches, and other non-profit agencies around to assist them. I personally support the works of our church, another non-profit homeless shelter, and two other agencies who help those in need. So I do my "fair share". I prefer that I do so willingly and not by government strong arming me into it.

Looking for grapes

Well, I haven't been a very good blogger. It has been quite some time since I updated this particular blog. But my wife gave me a great idea the other day, and I actually incorporated it into one of my sermons this month. We were talking about remaining positive in disappointing times and one of my keys for doing that was to only do what God told you to do, and nothing more. Numbers 13 tells the story of the 12 spies that were sent into the Promised Land to spy it out. Moses told them to check out a number of things. He told them to see what kind of people lived there, whether they were strong or weak, how many of them there were, what is the land like, good or bad. How do they live, in tents or in strong holds, again about the land, is it fat or lean. And then he told them to bring him back some grapes because it was at the time of the first harvesting of grapes when they were going in. They did all of the above, but they also noticed that there giants in the land. The bible says they found a cluster of grapes that had to be placed between a pole and carried by two men. Now that is a big cluster of grapes. But do you think they mentioned that when they got back? NO. The only thing they could talk about was the giants who were there. The bible also tells us that they already knew that the giants would be there, and had been told that God would take care of them. Their panicked talking about giants instead of showing off the grapes they brought back caused their brethren to lose hope, and cost the older generation their opportunity to go into the Promised Land. If God sends you for grapes, don't come back talking about the giants.

Obama Used Faulty Anecdote in Speech to Congress - Political News - FOXNews.com

Obama Used Faulty Anecdote in Speech to Congress - Political News - FOXNews.com

Some of you will discount this issue simply because it is was brought up by Fox News, but is it an issue at all that the president of the United States used a faulty anecdote in his speech the other night about Health Care? With all of the resources available to him you would think that he could have a speech written that would not contain such mistakes. Could the gaffe have been intentional? Did he have them leave it in hoping he wouldn't get busted on it? Or could he have left it on hoping to get busted on it so that he could then point out how much the "wingers" and the "teabaggers" just don't get it? It "almost" happened the way he said it. As a matter of fact if it had not been for government intervention it would have gone down that way. What do you think?

Headed to Hawaii

As you can tell if you have stumbled across my little portion of the blogosphere I don't keep up with my blog very often. Life is very hectic for me right now and this seems to be a terribly selfish waste of time when I have so many other things I could and should be doing. My wife and I are very active in our church right now. We also both work full time jobs that cause us to work extra hours most weeks. In addition to that we are in the startup phase of launching a new church in Lawrenceville, GA. That is the topic for a different day or blog, but since we are so busy we have been looking for some ways to get to spend some "me" time with one another recently, and the Lord has provided the perfect solution. Due to some extra labor I performed on the side and the generosity of a dear friend who loves us greatly we are headed to Kauai, Hawaii in 9 days and a wake up. We are so excited about going. Without something like this happening the odds would have been that we would never have gotten to go, so we really are pumped about the chance. By the way, does anyone know anything about a cheap, used car rental place on the island called Island Cars? Honestly I find it difficult to think about spending $500.00 on a rental car for a week when there are so many other things I would rather spend my money on. I plan to post some pics and blog about the experience when we return, so stay tuned. Ron, out.

The aforementioned buried car in Rodanthe. I don't know if they ever got it out.

Rodanthe House

This house was in Rodanthe in October when I was there for vacation. It is the house that was used for the outside shots in the movie Nights of Rodanthe with Richard Gere and some other female actor whom I cannot remember right now. This was just after a weekend of storms that caused the ocean to breach the dunes and cover the road with sand. They had to use earth movers to clear the road. I saw one house where the swimming pool was completely buried and another where they did not get the car out in time and the car was buried up to the lower portion of the windows. You can dig out of snow but I'm not sure you can dig out of sand, at least not easily. Anyway I really like vacationing in that part of the state and am looking forward to going back. I may not make it this year though as we have decided to try Hawaii. A free time share and buddy passes for the flight helped to make that decision. We have never been and are looking forward to going. The island we will be staying on is Kauai. Anybody been there done that?

Holiday Hangover

Well Christmas is over although the decorations are still up. New Years is only a couple of days away so the Holiday celebrations are not to the end. Please don't get me wrong, and don't mistake the title of the post as an indication of my partying over the holidays. Short of an occasional glass of wine I haven't had anything to drink for many, many years, certainly not enough to give me a buzz much less a hangover. When I say glass of wine that is what I mean, ONE glass of wine occasionally. But I do or am developing a Holiday Hangover of a different kind. Again, don't take this the wrong way because the holidays have been a lot of fun this year even with the economy in the tank the way it is. We have had several dinners with different couples and friends over. My daughter and the grandkids came over for dinner on Christmas eve and we opened presents with the grandkids. Church was great, all was well. But for some reason this just seems to be the holiday that never ends to me. I don't mean to be a Grinch, or unappreciative, and even with the tough times we were able to be a blessing to the kids, but for some reason I just want this season to end today, right now. Be gone, be over, I'm done with it. I led devotions at work this morning and in talking over some scripture I shared I think I discovered part of the reason. It has been such a busy season that I am afraid we have taken time to have fun and fellowship with everyone but God. And I am way tired of running in my strength and not getting a daily uplift from fellowshipping with the Lord every morning before my day begins. So pardon me if I sound more like Scrooge than Santa Claus, but I am really ready for the holidays to be over with so that I can get back to a more normal routine. What about you?