A Thorny Issue

Once upon a time the trees decided to elect a king. First they said to the olive tree, ‘Be our king!’ But the olive tree refused, saying, ‘Should I quit producing the olive oil that blesses both God and people, just to wave back and forth over the trees?’
“Then they said to the fig tree, ‘You be our king!’ But the fig tree also refused, saying, ‘Should I quit producing my sweet fruit just to wave back and forth over the trees?’
“Then they said to the grapevine, ‘You be our king!’ But the grapevine also refused, saying, ‘Should I quit producing the wine that cheers both God and people, just to wave back and forth over the trees?’
“Then all the trees finally turned to the thornbush and said, ‘Come, you be our king!’ And the thornbush replied to the trees, ‘If you truly want to make me your king, come and take shelter in my shade. If not, let fire come out from me and devour the cedars of Lebanon.’” Judges 9:8-15 NLT



One thing I have noticed since moving to our to our home in the woods is that thorns are a curse.
I have spent many hours cutting and pulling thorns, brambles and other vines from the trees that surround our house. Great trees have been permanently maimed by the choking of these vines and thorns. Young trees are embraced and slowly pulled downward by these parasites, until they die or their growth is forever stunted.

That's what happens when thorns are allowed to take over. They consume, they are never satisfied until they have destroyed that which they rule over ... and then they move on to another host.

Thus it is with thug dictators in third world countries.

Thus it is congress in these United States.


Why is this man (Reid) smiling? Indeed,

Why are all these people - well, gleeful?

It's because they think they have just put

one over on the American people.

Someone stood in their way.

Thank you, House Republicans and some Democrats who earlier today, saw fit to stand firm against the bill which it seems everyone from the President down, thought should be passed.

Everyone that is but a generous portion of the American people.

I think we are tired of being told the world will end tomorrow if congress doesn't get to do what it wants.

Then when the world doesn't end tomorrow, they put it off a few days - "well - it will surely end after this weekend if we don't get something passed!" they say.

All the time they are crying out - "You can't make it without us! PLEASE need us!!" -

I think we can make - and possibly quite peaceably without them.

Until this congress is ready to come clean about who is really at fault here (and it ain't Bush Tax Cuts, nor is it Wall Street), I think we should stop listening to them.

I really wanted to stop writing about this stuff, but if I don't express some of my anger toward our "leaders", I am afraid I will start yelling at my kids.

I am really offended when I hear congressional leaders (including Republicans) talking about how they are "investing" and they could even make money on the deal. Now tell me, if you had a couple hundred hard-earned dollars that you wanted to throw into the stock market, would you give it to these guys to invest?

No, but they still stand - licking their chops - ready to take $700 BILLION from you.

On the news that the bail out bill did not pass (Glory-Be!) the Dow Jones fell nearly 800 points.

Do you know what I plan to do about it tomorrow?

Well, if the Lord is willing, I plan to get up and stop by my in-law's house on my way to work for a special breakfast sandwich. I plan to do that because it's Tuesday and that's what I do.

Then I plan to go about my day, just like any other.

The Dow Jones does not determine what kind of day I will have - it doesn't decide my life for me.

I am learning to trust my life, my finances, my family, my future, my all to One who cares for me; and One who has the plan and the power to keep it all intact.

Just a note about the Bail Out.

I have written my Congressman and my Senator . . . and I am praying.

Could it be possible that we would see "leaders" in Washington actually lead? Wouldn't it be wonderful for them to throw aside all of their jockeying for position and spinning and just do the right thing?

Can you imagine if the hearts of the people of that city were suddenly melted?

What if we Americans saw in them, someone we could trust? What if President, Representatives and Senators suddenly became transparent and said...we want to do what is right this time... but it might be painful ...

I think I would be ready to roll up my sleeves and fight through whatever crisis followed right alongside them. Wouldn't you?

This is America. We can rebuild.

Let's get it right this time. We may be running out of second chances.

The borrower is slave to the lender....

Something Bigger Than Ourselves

Everyone longs to be a part of something bigger than themselves.

I have said this often - probably taken credit for it a few times - but I don't know to whom the quote should be attributed. It is - however - true!

One experience I had with this concept was during a better part of the 90's. Our church began what developed in later years into a Passion Play, which we performed every year around Easter.

Our Music Pastor at the time was the passion behind our Passion Play! His drive infected us all and he was all about growth!

The little program went from a "choir" project to an all-consuming "community" project involving actors, musicians, designers, builders, technicians of all descriptions, artist, hospitality people and smiling people.
Jerry (that was our Music Pastor) pushed. Each year he would sell his vision to the choir and we would sorta' look at each other - thinking of all the reasons why we would never see it. But then when we would see his vision come into reality - and we were a part of it - we were all ignited.

I saw large groups of people, finish their daily work and show up on a regular basis to work - sometimes well into the night - just to be a part of this big happening.

Energy. Passion. Creativity.

Those are just some of the fruits that grow from being a part of something bigger than yourself.

Tonight we attended a benefit dinner for the school our children attend.
Our kids attend a private Christian school. Our reasons are a subject for another day, but I realized again tonight that this school is one of those "bigger than ourselves" things.

Usually these annual fundraising dinners feature a big name speaker. But this year, they decided to just feature the school.

Now I need to confess that I had my doubts about how the program would come off. I figured it would look like something "home-made" and that people would say - "well, it's ashamed about that little school - they couldn't even afford a speaker this year..."

I was wrong.

From the opening prayer led by a student, through a moving song by a middle school student the events held us riveted as we saw the handiwork of God on display.

A mom and a coach both shared testimonies about how God had brought healing through the relationships they had developed in that school.

A panel of students spoke freely and frankly about this whole concept of a Biblical Worldview.

It was amazing - it moved me....again. Just like every time I come in contact with anything to do with this school. It is where God is at work in our community.

Now I know there are churches, and neighborhoods, and families where God is also working - He's big, He can work in a lot of places at once. But this school is definitely one of those places and I am so grateful my children are affiliated with it. I am glad R. and I are affiliated with it!

I knew if I wrote about this tonight - I wouldn't do it justice. But I needed to say it while the passion is strong.

Sometimes, words just fail.

To be a part of this school is truly an opportunity to be a part of something bigger!
Thanks, God.

Did Anybody Think to Pray?

Throughout America's long history, her leaders have often called upon the nation to pray during times of crisis.

Has anyone heard anybody from Washington call on the nation to pray?

It appears to me that instead, we have taken matters into our own hands and smugly formulated our own plans with our own resources. I don't know about you, but every time I have tried that in my own personal life - I have fallen on my face.

So I have offered a great deal of comments lately about this economic crisis that we -as a nation- are purportedly on the brink of. But I have offered few solutions.

So here is my suggestion.

Call for prayer.

Then, lets get our heads together and formulate a plan.

I did hear about a free market solution, apparently being offered by a legislator from Texas - he proposes a temporary reduction in the capital gains tax.

I expect that this economy would go back to whirrrring along pretty quick after that.

But what kind of lessons would that teach our children?

That tax-cuts work.

-for everyone.

That government serves us best when it stays out of our pocketbooks.

-and out of our way!

I don't see many congressional "leaders" going along with that. There power is derived these days from the fear, panic and ignorance of the people.

Okay, so I am a little ticked.


And another thing - this President - in whom I am well pleased.... has not served us well on this issue.

For Congress Oversight = Overlook

The foxes are all sponsoring hearings this week and are whining about why they should be allowed to oversee the hen house. Despite the fact that they have always demonstrated a voracious appetite for chicken and a complete lack of any notion of self-discipline.

The "foxes" are our congressional leaders.

They are blaming Wall Street, blaming Bush, blaming the Private Sector... none seem to be considering the fact that the great financial debacle in which we find ourselves is of their own making!

Though I shouldn't be, I am still astounded at the audacity -the gall -of these charlatans. Their level of hypocrisy is amazing.

Barney Frank, Chris Dodd and the like are pointing out that they want congress to provide the oversight of this $700 Billion dollar bailout scheme.

I ask you. If you have a third cousin that is shiftless and lazy and has never done an honest day's work. If he has taken all you ever offered to give him without an ounce of gratitude. If he has stolen from you when your back was turned and sometimes even when you were looking right at him... are you going to let this guy run your business for you? Can you honestly see yourself turning over your checking account to him?

Frank and Dodd and their ilk have had oversight over these industries yet they act as if they never saw this coming. It seems that for them oversight meant to 'overlook' the problems.

Frank and Dodd and company have been enriched by their relationship with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In fact some have indicated that they were instrumental in limiting the scrutiny of those two organizations.

Now in this day of sensational headlines - when everything is "The Worst It's Been in Years!" - perhaps we need to back away and breathe a minute. Fear and panic can lead you into some foolish agreements.

Never trust someone who says you have to decide right now! Chances are, they do not want you to study the proposal too closely.

About a year ago, this same congress was saying we had to get overwhelming legislation passed to overhaul the entire immigration policy in America. Remember that?
As more and more light was shed on that proposal America soon sent the message to congress that these were not changes that we wanted. Yet for many of them - until it became apparent that their political necks were on the line - they were singing the praises of comprehensive immigration reform. They said it had to be passed right away and as I recall, they spoke of those that opposed them in a rather disparaging way.

These are the same guys.

They are up there "crying 'wolf'" again.

Don't get me wrong, I believe that there are some serious issues facing our economy, and I readily admit that I know very little about how the failure of these major players might effect our economy. But I do not have any reason to trust those that are in positions of leadership. Especially when I believe that failed Clinton Administration policies and a little bit of larceny from our congressional "leaders" are at the source of this conundrum.

Do I seem bitter?

Well let me look to the bright side: America has been blessed with a rich heritage. It is a heritage inspired by God and put into place by God-led men, therefore our system of government is marvelous and amazing.

Our system of government is one whose only power is loaned to it by the people.

There are checks and balances in place to keep power from concentrating in one area and to limit the possibility of corruption.

The biggest check and balance we have is the vote.

It would be nice to see those members of our legislative branch that have profited in an unlawful way to come to justice. But until we can find some true leaders to truly take on the task of real reform (think Ronald Reagan), the next best thing will be to vote them out of office.

I was happy to notice the headline tonight that the FBI is looking into Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
And those congressional job approval numbers still hover around 73 % -disapprove.

Gas Pains

I refuse to join the masses in yelling "Crises!" - but the gas issue struck home this morning and was almost a problem.

Yesterday, I heard rumblings that some areas were out of gas. I really didn't notice it because I didn't need gas. I might have learned more about the issue had I stopped for gas on my way home as I had intended at some point.
Since procrastination is one of my strong points, I decided to put off buying gas until I went to the hospital to see Dad. Unbeknownst to me, R. had also put off buying gas in the hope that I would take her car when I went to the hospital and fill up her tank. Both of these strategies were discombobulated by the fact that I decided not to go to the hospital after all.

So this morning we all left for our respective destinations with little fuel to get us there.

I planned to stop at the Shell station in a small town on my route to work. I don't really like that station but you can pay at the pump. I was somewhat disturbed to find that there were no gas prices on their sign and no cars at the pumps.

I drove on, cranking up the level of panic in my silent prayers.

This little berg just doesn't have a lot of choices for gas buying and my trip to work involves a long haul over a mountain with few resources on it. So when my second and third options were used up, I really began to pray.

There is a station at the foot of that mountain I mentioned and it was kind of a last resort because they only accept cash and I didn't remember much of that stuff residing in my wallet the last time I had looked. I began calculating the amount I thought I had and dividing that by the approximate price per gallon, and then multiplying that by my estimated miles per gallon.

I pulled into the station, someone was parked at the pump - "Great!" - I thought, then I saw the little sticky-note signs that were stuck on the pumps and read "out". Okay, now it was time to pray in earnest.

I called to check on R. - she had stopped at good ole' Walmart and filled up for considerably less than the prices I was seeing on these empty stations.

I called work, I would be late. I was glad to get to leave a voicemail instead of having to explain to someone that I was immature and couldn't manage the responsibility of making sure I had gasoline in my car...

On my way into the heart of the little town, I found a spot. From all the alcoholic beverage signs in the window, it was plain to me that gas was a mere sideline for this business.

There was a guy in front of me pumping gas, so I felt a sense of relief -UNLESS HE GOT IT ALL! - with that motivating thought I whipped around and backed over to the other side of the pump.

On the pump was a little handwritten sign. I read it cautiously - expecting the word "out" to jump off the page... but it really didn't make sense. The sign said something about the "Advertised Special" and something about "Credit Cards" and "Pre-Pay" and what appeared to be a "2X" .

As I tried to decipher the code, the guy beside me decided it might be important that he know what his sign said. "Does that mean that charge you double for using a credit card?" he asked. I didn't know.
The message at the bottom of the little card was very clear though, it read "We have a large selections of wines". It was as if the owner was trying to drive people into such a state of confusion and unrest that only a bottle of cheap wine would help them forget their pain.

I went inside to investigate.

The proprietor's command of the English language was not good, but he made up for it in speed. I, on the other hand, slowed my already-sluggish speech pattern in order to be better understood.

I asked him about the sign and he began to explain; after asking him to repeat himself once, I soon realized that my efforts to translate-on-the-fly were useless.

So I just "punted". I asked if I could buy gas with a credit card, and held up my "Discover".

I should note here for all of you that are aware that I am a fan of Dave Ramsey and the "Total Money Makeover", that I believe strongly in the elimination of every reliance on credit cards. But we are not there yet. We are down to a couple.

Anyway, I just asked. And he responded "yeah ... but maybe not that one... do you have visa? mastercard?" .

For a second time, I began calculating my cash-on-hand divided by price-per gallon and - "It worked" he said.

I pumped my gas and left feeling lighter. At the first of next month I should feel even lighter when that credit card bill comes in.

Dad's Gift

I haven't spoken much about my Dad over the past couple weeks - he has been hospitalized for a little over three weeks now. He has gone from one ICU to another ICU and then to another hospital where he has now been for over a week.

Early on after his open-heart surgery, we were a little disappointed to learn that there was a portion of his heart they just couldn't get to (boy there's a sermon illustration for you), so he came out with three bypasses and a new valve which is actually "slightly used" since it is a bovine (read "cow") valve.

Well Dad hasn't been put out to pasture (look- that's a joke... you know, playing off the bovine - oh never mind) but he has been out of it for awhile.

He spent a great deal of the past few weeks in something of a stupor - mostly sleeping.

He has communicated with us and knew his family (even in-laws) but often times his speech was very weak and he has spoken with closed eyes.

There have been some good days when he was more alert but they often led to him being agitated and then he would sleep again.

Last week he had a couple of back-to-back bad days, one in which he just slept all day.

Then he seemed to turn around. He has been allowed to eat again and that seems to have put some life back into him.

Yesterday and today he was very alert, sitting up for a time today and eating well. Yesterday, he picked up a train of thought that he had been ruminating before his last heart episode.

He offered AA, five 5-dollar bills to read the New Testament through by Christmas.

Dad had been thinking along those lines before he entered the hospital. He had told Mom he would like to go into one of the younger Sunday School classes and offer a cash-prize for Bible reading.

Dad was never much for encouraging involvement in sports... he usually based his opposition to organized sports programs on two foundational issues: Finances and Freedom.

"They are just after your money" - he would say. I remember pricing football equipment in the sixth grade - just sort of dreaming - and I saw that Dad was right.

Dad used the same argument about Boy Scouts: you know, you have to buy the handbook, the uniform, all that gear and camping equipment.

The other argument was "Freedom". We didn't get involved in organized sports very much because "we might take a notion to go to Granny and Pop's house in Griffin". Dad like to do some things spontaneously and he didn't want some game to stand in our way.

But now the Bible, that was another thing. Dad wanted to encourage us to read it. And he didn't mind using finances or freedom to bring that about.

Much like he did with the offer to AA and with similar offers recently to Ab, Dad at times offered my siblings and me money for reading certain portions of the Bible.

Other times Dad required Bible reading.

When I was in the seventh and eighth grade in LaFayette, Georgia, our Junior High School had burned (it happened before I ever moved there). So we shared the High School: high schoolers attended until noon and junior highers attended from about 1:00 until 6:00.

There were pro's and con's to that setup. The main positive being that I could sleep late every day.

Dad, who was not a big fan of children sleeping too late or watching too much television, set forth an edict that I had to read a certain amount of scripture before I could turn on the television. I don't remember the exact amount, but I settled into a pattern of reading 3 Psalms each day before hitting the tube.

And I was pretty faithful to that. Since I concentrated on the latter part of the Psalms (shorter), I tended to read Psalm 127 a lot. I can still quote most of it -"Except the Lord build the house; they labor in vain that build it. Except the Lord keep the city, the waketh but in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early and to sit up late...."

Some may think that it trivializes the Word of God to pay people to read it. Or perhaps children would rebel against being forced to read before activating the television each day. But I don't think it had either of those effects on me.

I think that year or so of patterned reading developed into something of a discipline. I still want to start each day with the Word. And some of those Psalms that became so familiar to me then, became anchor points for me during (and after) the stormy teenage years.

Dad knew that we kids would need that bedrock of strength. I am glad he did. I am also glad to see that his mind is quick enough now to remember the importance of God's Word and the value of instilling an appreciation for it in the hearts of children.

Before his protracted stay in the hospital, Dad was nearing the end of his second journey through the entire Bible this year.

The children in my family were blessed with a spiritual "one-two punch" for parents. Dad gave us the discipline of the Word; Mom taught us the precious practicality of the Word. It is for every moment, every situation, every day of our life.

As I look back, I was able to pick up some opportunities to participate in a few organized sports programs as I got older; and though I did very little scouting - AA is now a fledgling "Tiger Cub" on his way to his "Bobcat Badge". So I am in no wise bitter - on the contrary - I was given a treasure of eternal proportions.