How did that injury happen??

Recently, I wrote about the life of King David and how his entire life has been under a microscope ever since by people in the church.

There is one event in David’s life that I feel akin to. That would be the famous story of David’s confrontation with Goliath. David had no problem identifying who the enemy was. He stood nine feet tall and daily challenged the Israelites. David took the challenge and won. David knew where the enemy was, what he stood for, how he was armed, and what his intent was.

The problem was that David had an unexpected opposition also. That came from his own family. David had no idea that he had to watch his backside. His brothers made fun of him, ridiculing what he planned to do. Rather than doing the mission the brothers were there to do themselves, they instead attacked their youngest brother.

I sometimes feel like David in that situation. Let me make the comparisons. Am I doing what God wants done? No. Am I facing down the enemy, confident that I can defeat him in God’s strength? No. Am I being attacked from behind by my own compatriots? I feel like I am.

There is a saying that the Christian army is the only one that attacks its own wounded. That is me. I feel I have been attacked from behind and left to slowly expire. I wrote nearly six months ago how my church leadership failed me. Since then, every Sunday I dread attending church. I thought several years ago I could dress and heal my own wounds. I was so wrong!

Unfortunately, when you go to church and somebody asks “How are you?” doesn’t really expect an honest answer from you. You see, if you are an introvert in a very outgoing church you are lost to the background. You are not necessarily looked down upon, but become part of the wall decorations. Remember Milton from the movie “Office Space.” He was always the object of abuse from his co-workers. Sometimes I feel like that character at church. I don’t seek out a lot of conversation with people and so I become a lesser choice from others, if a choice at all. I’m not the pretty folk. I’m not of the folk with glamorous careers. I don’t live in chosen neighborhoods.

I realize this sounds like a self-pity party. And it probably is. And, of course, I’m the only guest in attendance. But, nonetheless, a Christian shouldn’t have to worry about injury from behind.

help!

Do you have any suggestions to make this blog more interesting (other than fire the author and owner) and viewed or recommended to more people? More color, less opinion, more advertising, less widgets, more sports, less ?????

I can handle criticism. It's the unspoken but critical stuff that I can't deal with.

Give me some ideas. I want this to be the first place people go to on the internet. I know my kids come here first already.

Non -christian faith

Sometimes I really believe that people that say there is no God or ridicule those who do exhibit more faith in their lives than actual believers in God do. Let me explain.

Recently scientists have apparently discovered a basic element of life itself on a comet that passed near earth about five years ago.

Based on this small discovery, scientists can extrapolate that those "seeds of life" exist throughout the universe. They exist on comets travelling around the universe and land on planets, thereby planting life everywhere.

What it comes down to is that some of these scientists really believe that life on earth - all that we see around us, plants, trees, vegetables, fish, birds, and even humans - originated from the seeds of comets. These seeds evolved into a living planet. Accidental events that accidentally evolved into other events that evolved into other events that somehow evolved into humans capable of rational thought and animals that live and behave predictably. These people actually believe all of this can happen.

I believe that God was actively involved in creation. He knew what He was doing. Everything created with a natural purpose and behavior. That is really easy to believe. How He did it - I don't know. I don't care. I just know He did it and with amazing detail. There were no accidents or mistakes.

To believe that life was accidental events that came from space somewhere and resulted in what we have today really stretches logical reasoning. And it really begs the question - If life was actually piggybacking on comets, where did that comet pick up those elements? Some really want us to believe that it came from Mars. Ha!

What do you think? Tell me on the comments button below.

Where is my money going?

Man, this will get you eyes spinning around. This site records the U. S. national debt in real time. While the numbers really speak for themselves, I believe the most significant numbers are in the last box - Unfunded liabilities. These numbers will have the greatest impact on the top box - debt.

Remember after Bush 43 was re-elected and wanted to look into reforming Social Security? The democrats went nuts successfully scaring the populace into thinking Bush would destroy the entitlement program. Yet, the inaction is doing more to destroy it. And the dems in charge know they won't be around for the meltdown. It's all about power NOW!

Post Office is dissed by the President

Since I am currently an employee of the U.S. Postal Service, the President made an overwhelming proof that government should not be involved as a competitor as a provider of health care services.



The post office cannot compete with UPS and Fedex because of many factors. One, Congress likes to meddle in post office operations. Two, postal management is raised from within and possess little competitive business experience. Three, postal unions have an inordinate influence in basic business decision making. Four - and my last point, but not THE last point - is the general attitude of government employees that job is not directly tied to customer satisfaction.

I tried my best to do my best at work, but one out 700,000 can only do so much.

If they wrote a book about me

In a men’s Bible study at my church, we recently concluded looking at the life of David the king. As any church member will tell you there have been several books written about the life of David. Various bible studies look at David from different perspectives. Big, thick books analyze his life, his emotions, his decision-making processes, his military prowess, and on and on.

What if David had been warned early in his life that his life would be the template for Christian living for thousands of years into the future? What might have been his response to that warning? Might he have behaved differently? And yet, his moniker has traditionally been “the man after God’s own heart.”

What if we knew our life might go under the societal microscope hundreds of years into the future? Would we live differently now? Would we even care?

I doubt it!

For millions of us, our legacies will extend to our children and probably grandchildren and that will be about it. Children today live for the present. Respect for older generations has virtually disappeared. My own children have little understanding of who my grandparents were.

Which brings me to: how will my legacy be viewed by my children and grandchildren? My legacy would be defined by my relationship with God and how I presented that to the world as a whole.

I know there will be no books or bible studies based on my life. Following generations will only know me based on the words of my children. What will they remember about me? I am sure there will be many bad examples, hopefully not vocalized. There are many never-to-be-spoken by me regrets that I wish I had done better as a father. My hope is that my children will only remember the good.

But, in case somebody does write a book about my life, I expect some profit from it. You don’t know what I have gone through to live this example.

Is the government right subsidizing new car purchases?

Oh my goodness, the democrats say that the “Cash for Clunkers” auto purchase program has been so successful demonstrated by the fact the program has been suspended because it was about to run out of money.

What makes this so interesting is not that the government is giving away money, but that people really do want to buy new cars. The problem – up to this point – has been the high prices of new cars. Also is the fact that I’m helping somebody else buy a car. What do I get out of this? Oops, I probably shouldn’t ask that. That may be considered un-American.

Anyway, the real success about this program is the proof that people are willing to buy new cars at the right price. The auto makers – and the unions – need to realize that their products will sell when the buying public feels they are getting a fair deal. Macroeconomics has the basic graph that demonstrates that products will sell at the intersection of supply and demand. When outside forces get involved, the intersection goes haywire.

So all of this proves that there is money out there waiting to be spent. Purchasers are looking for value. This should be a lesson not only for automakers, but for all retailers. Fast food restaurants probably understand this better than any.

The government should not expand the "Cash for Clunkers" because it does more to upset the free market than help. And I didn't get a car out of it either.

Baseball funtime

Sometimes you just need something funny. The way my Cincinnati Reds are playing right now (vertical nosedive) I know that I need something funny. Sometimes the classics are the funniest. This is definitely one of them.

Planned Parenthood will make money again next year - from you!

Friday, Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana offered an amendment to an appropriations bill that would have eliminated all government funding for Planned Parenthood for the next fiscal year. That amendment was defeated along near party lines.

Of course, Planned Parenthood claims that their organization is more involved in family planning education nationwide than actually providing abortion services. Remember that this is the organization that has had several video recorded incidents of allegedly illegally “advising” clients to possibly lie about their ages. At least one incident was here in Indiana.

This action is another indication that the current Congress has every intent to move elective abortions into national health care. I suspect that before this issue is concluded Congress will not only include taxpayer paid abortions, but there will also be no opt-out provision for providers. Doctors, nurses, and medical facilities will be required to offer abortion services. (“Services” – what irony in that choice of words!)

Apollo 11

As others are commemorating the 40th anniversary of man on the moon, I will, yes, give my little tribute.

I was 13 years old watching the events on a black and white TV. Fortunately for me the broadcast from the moon also was in B&W. But I was just a kid watching with my own fascination. I was rabid following the progress of NASA. I was constantly sending away for the latest information on research and design at the various locations around the country. There was no internet access, I actually had to send a letter through the US mail to receive info back in the mail. I copied articles out of the local newspapers. I still have much of this original information. I made my own models of the various rockets from kits. But probably the best part of my collections were the astronaut photos I got. Forget sports heros. I still have an autographed photo of astronaut Dick Gordon (Apollo 12). No relation to me, but it was neat to think about it.

I could walk almost anybody through mission agendas as if I were the one that wrote it. I knew where they landed on the moon and talk about what they were doing in that location. Other kids had earth globes, I had a moon globe. I had wall maps. My science fair projects were recreating space flight.

But it comes down to the fact that American ingenuity and determination accomplished this feat. There were the human losses. Americans did it. We had a goal bigger - and better - than ourselves.

That is what is needed today.