All in the Family Under Attack

September 18, 2011 Leave a comment

The  Obama dream of a different America under his progressive mandates (picking winners and losers) comes with a heavy price tag and I am not just referring to economic burdens being placed on the shoulders of Americans. Obama’s demand for tax increases for corporations will further necessitate corporations passing the cost onto consumers. And, no one will be immune from Obama’s ‘class warfare’ tax plan. It is a shell game (hide the tax increases under the ‘rich/corporation/inheritance tax’ shell). Every tax affects every American.  Trickle down taxation is guaranteed.

It is the American family which will suffer the most under Obama’s progressive ideologies. Consider the American family right now.  The family is under attack.  Beyond the absurdity of homosexual marriage being legalized as on par with male-female marriage (Reason, of course, tells you otherwise) and the horrendous rate of divorce encouraged by state laws which allow No-Fault divorce coupled with the almost guaranteed child support (a ‘dead-beat’ parent penal system for fathers is created in the process) parental absenteeism is at an all time high.  This is due to the increased need to work more to pay for the increased cost of living (which includes inflation) created by corporations being taxed more. It should be noted that our country has the second highest corporate tax rate (39.3% (average combined federal and state).in the world, second only to Japan. (It is no wonder that Obama’s jobs czar Jeffrey Imelt, CEO of GE, has GE paying no corporate taxes here in the US.)

 I dare say increased taxation (via increased consumer costs) goes hand in hand with decreased family values. And, it is happening now. Time spent with your family, with your children, will be devoured trying to play catch up with your finances.  Parents want to provide for their children.  Parents want the best for their children and parents will sacrifice for their children.  Obama’s short-sighted plans will rob parents of the net pay that would allow parents to spend time with their children.

 You know this already:  when parents are not around children get in trouble. Children may cruise the cable TV channels and watch totally inappropriate programs, programs that are now on at all hours of the day.  Children  will cruise the internet seeing things that no child should ever see.  They may hang with friends who are no good or worse, they may hang around with gangs.  You will lose your children to the arbitrariness of a world not sharing your values. (Many parents have despaired of even trying to be a parent, believing that more money might make things better for the child.)

 Increased taxation and increased government dependence means a decreased share of net income for the family.  It means less ownership of your family values and  the American dream, as well. What good is the American Dream if is not shared tangibly with your children?

(Perhaps you are a progressive who disparages the American Dream. You may then pass along the inherent poverty of radicalism as a way of life.  So be it. Just don’t make me pay for it.)

 Fathers are the most likely to take a hit in Obama’s tax schemes.  They will have to spend more time working.  Many mothers will also have to work. 

 Single mothers will have to work harder.  They will also seek government assistance to provide for their family. Continually receiving this type of hand-out is demoralizing.  This demoralizing effect quickly becomes a poor self-image.  A parent’s poor self-image is easily passed on to their kids who ultimately learn that they must depend on government for their daily bread and that mom is the enabler and that dad is a loser.

A vote for Obama was a vote to build an Illinois Hope & Change casino in Washington D.C.  Like it or not you and your family are mandated to play through taxation.  You may break even, you may “Win the Future” but most likely, you will lose.  The odds (and the lobbyists) are stacked against you.  Over time you will lose everything.

Before Obama there were many Chicago hoods shaking down businesses for money.  Remember Al Capone.  The American family deserves better than the “fat-cat” Obama from Chicago – the guy who wants to “drill-baby-drill” down into your pocketbook.

Filed under Economics, Life As I See It Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

The Lord Hears The Cry Of The Poor, All Others Listen Up

September 17, 2011 Leave a comment

The answer to poverty in our lifetime is not government.  It is not voting for someone who will make us feel better about the situation. It is not the vicarious experience of giving offered by paying a little more taxes. This type of arm’s length indifference is much like the behaviors of the priest and the Levite who had each passed a man lying on the road. 

This man, a Samaritan, had been accosted by robbers, leaving him penniless.  Both priest and Levite were well versed in the rules and regulations that governed their lives.  They both acted out of those rules and regulations and not out of love. They both gave at the office.

Progressives like to think of themselves as Good Samaritans and yet they vote like how the priest and Levite responded – this problem is beyond me, the system should fix this.

Giving is meant to be a one-on-one intimacy – the poor are to be helped directly.  The answer is personal involvement. In doing so, both parties benefit and, more importantly, God, not government, is honored.

We are told in Scripture that we are to do our giving in secret. The right hand should not know what the left hand is doing.  Yet, we have politicians on the Left (hand) and social gospel gurus who publicly demand that government be the arbiter of who is poor and the benefactor to the poor.  They take great pride in their social justice message.  It is their platform.

 It is common among progressive voters to look for deep pockets and then to vote in politicians who will enact laws and regulations which will divest those pockets of wealth in order to provide for the poor (basically, everyone not rich).  This is wealth redistribution and it is at the heart of ‘been-there-done-that’ socialism.

 Many college kids (taking worthless courses) and liberal college professors (those unable to find real jobs) voted for Obama because of his campaign rhetoric calling for wealth redistribution.  Class warfare has become a war cry of the progressive voter – pitting one group against another.  This is not Christ.  This is not being a Good Samaritan. This behavior is more akin to Pharisee-ism than anything else. Pretense veils the eyes of many in this group of voters.

 Common sense should tell you that with less government there is less need for tax money.  And, with less tax money being taken out of your pocket there is more money left for you to give to the poor. But, undoubtedly, it is human nature to submit to the group thinking of socialism rather than to act individually. It is also human nature to want someone else to be responsible for a problem and for us to look good applying ourselves to that end.  In other words, we, like the Levite in the Good Samaritan story, tend to be Pharisaic by staying away from the problem, letting others become involved directly.

 If you want to help the poor then look around you.  Get involved with your neighbors.  Get off your ass (see the Good Samaritan parable for more detail),  stop texting ‘socialisms’ to your buddies and do the best thing for the poor – give of yourself.

*****

Liberalism is a parlor game, where one, for a small stipend, is allowed to think he is aiding starving children in X or exploited workers in Y, when he is merely, in the capitalist tradition, paying a premium, tacked on to his goods, or subtracted from his income, for the illusion that he is behaving laudably (cf. bottled water).

David Mamet from his book The Secret Knowledge: On Dismantiling of American Culture

Filed under Christian character, Christianity, conservative, Life As I See It Tagged with , , , , , , ,

The Age of Outrage: Incensed Sensibilities

September 14, 2011 Leave a comment

  

In terms of human nature I do not know that our world is much different from all the worlds of centuries past. Human nature appears to be a constant. But I do see that today because of the enormous reach of instant electronic media we are at any given moment enjoined to take offense at anything perceived to be an attack on the rosy perception we have of ourselves and our world.  We will even take offense for others whose shoes we are not wearing. The general response to any perceived threat to the safety net, our egos, is often to tweet ourselves and others with word-packets of rage. Misery loves communication. Just ask Obama.

Obama has an #attackwatch Twitter website (attackwatch.com) set up by his campaign people to gather reports about attacks on Obama’s record.  The site invites you to snitch on your neighbor in order to intercept smears to Obama’s mirrors.

Today, for the most part, narcissism is the ‘I-cad’ battery behind the hardware and software of every electronic gadget purchased for personal communication. And once powered up, every gadget is attuned to the mirror on the wall affixing our image clearly in cyberspace. The  “human” part of the gadget’s human machine interface (HMI) is easily prone to having its ego front and center where it will stand ready and waiting for an offense, for its sensibilities to be stirred to anger. It may take only one indirect affront to reach the tipping point. When that happens, outrage will then be projected onto everyone around us causing human interface disconnects go viral.

As the word “outrage” suggests, we do not keep our offended selves to ourselves.  We blast the horn loudly. We rise up on our hind legs and make a fierce growling sound in direction of the perceived offender. We lash out. We strike. We mock and jeer. We demonstrate, we march and we riot. We “flash” our rancor into vigilantism and mob action. We jump the shark with self-righteous responses, pummeling others with our heavy-handed diatribes. Cooler heads do not prevail. Instead, hot heads storm the gates of decency and respect. Our egos deem that the “other” has not been fair or there has not been adequate homage to our feelings. We text ourselves and to others ‘We deserve better”.

 So, in this Age of Outrage with it electronically vaunted egos and its absence of meekness and personal contentment, with all of its rants and its plethora of pretense and aborted conversations and with the death of civility lying everywhere around you you end up getting exactly what you deserve – more of yourself.

“All of civility depends on being able to contain the rage of individuals.”
Joshua Lederberg, American Molecular Biologist

“Treat others the way you want to be treated.” Jesus

*****

AttackWatch Update:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZPwDRZ6pTM&NR=1

“By contrast, Reagan and both Bushes dealt with attacks either with good humor in the former case or by ignoring them in the latter. One criticism of President George W. Bush is that he ignored attacks a little too much, allowing some of the accusations to take hold without a response. “

Source:  http://news.yahoo.com/attack-watch-snitch-focus-internet-fun-195600841.html

Filed under essay, Life As I See It, Political Commentary, Writing Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

Two Thieves Out of Time

September 8, 2011 Leave a comment

Looking over the strata of my life, I can see very clearly now that growing up I had an Old Testament (OT) view of life.  Early on I began to indoctrinate myself with lists of things which were not right for a person to do.  If I erred, which I often did, then subsequently I would receive in my conscience the requisite judgment and punishment. Basically, I saw myself as a sinner in the hands of an angry God. My life was abundant with shame and lacked mercy toward myself or others.  My thoughts on the rightness of capital punishment fell in line with this uncompromising understanding of my sinful self and the judgment I deserved. I thought, “An eye for an eye?  So be it. It is just.”  But now, though I continue to be politically and socially conservative, I have since changed my view on this life and death matter.

A lot of my early misconceptions about God and the balance sheet I thought that he kept came from my own projections onto God, my father’s own upbringing being infused in me and from the churches we attended.

 My father was raised in a strict Dutch Christian Reformed home. He knew even more shame and punishment under his father’s iron rule of their home.  My dad’s family dutifully attended a Dutch Christian Reformed Church (CRC) situated at the end of their street. The church’s moral code was much like River City, Iowa’s morally proper society as portrayed in the musical The Music Man. Movies, dancing, pool halls were all considered taboo. Sunday was considered the Sabbath and no work was to be performed on that day. Unlike River City, Iowa though, drinking, smoking pipes, cigars and cigarettes were openly enjoyed right after the church service.

In his twenties my father broke away from the Dutch Christian Reformed Church and started attending a Baptist church in the  Andersonville area in Chicago. He soon met my mother at this church.  They married and later attended the Moody Bible Institute together. I was born while they were students.

Over the years our family attended a Baptist/Bible church. There were still OT rules and regulations but the boisterousness of the Baptist church (as compared to the almost absolute silence of the Reformed church service) sounded merciful and more accepting of one’s sins and foibles. To redeem yourself from destruction, there were the constant pleas from the pulpit to walk the aisle and to repent of your sins or to come forward and rededicate your life to Christ or to come forward and vow to become a missionary. Those were the options I remember.  Dealing with personal shame and guilt, the inner man, never seemed to be on the agenda. But, knowing your Bible in and out and cover to cover was on the program. And, in those days, talking about the Holy Spirit was almost taboo. Everything still had to be done decently and in order, every jot and tittle of your life was parsed against the black and white of the Scriptures.

 I am thankful that my dad walked away from the Dutch CRC and not from the Lord. I am thankful for the grace and mercy he has shown to me.  My father never acted in anger or in harsh judgment of me.

I am thankful for some of the time I spent in the Baptist church and for my immersion in the Scriptures. It was in the Baptist church as an eleven year old that I believed and called Jesus my Lord.  I was baptized not long afterward. But I too would later walk away from what I had been brought up in to look for more grace and mercy, to look for the REAL and not the pretentious. In my case, a load of sinfulness and a sense of reckoning ever mounted.  Walking down the aisle of a church was fruitless exercise. Over time, though, I found these two paramours, grace and mercy, in a close relationship with the Lord. And, I found my REAL self by taking the Eucharist every week.

My intimate relationship with Jesus was born out of a lot of personal suffering.  Some of the pain came out of my own sin and folly and some of it came Job-like out of the blue. I have incurred some major crippling losses in my life including the death of a child. I realize now that some of those hard times were acts of mercy – losing what was precious to me at the time but not losing everything as I rightly deserved.  These and other losses helped me to see that mercy and grace were always there with me. And because the weight of what I was dealing with was so enormous I could finally feel God’s hand beneath me. With this safety net underneath I began to cast out my fear.  I was able to give up my sin, my shame and my anger. I began to have mercy on my self and toward others. All of this past reflection brings me to my current view of capital punishment:  no capital punishment, no death penalty.

Without going into balance sheet retribution or what’s owed to society or to the victim’s rights or into capital punishment as a crime deterrent or into the enormous cost of operating the penal system I simply believe that every person should be shown mercy, whether they are in the womb (the most innocent) or on death row (the most guilty).

Mercy is not the absence or negation of justice. Mercy is the outcome of justice which acknowledges the wrong-doing before both parties (the perpetrator and the victim) and demands retribution. But instead of giving the criminal what he fully deserves mercy, instead, hands the perpetrator the noose of time.

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” I believe these OT words from Psalm 23 accord with a New Testament (NT) response to man’s violence against his brother:  a perpetrator of a crime and the victim may both find goodness and mercy if they turn to God’s Truth – Jesus Christ. The eye for eye retributive justice of the Old Testament has been replaced by a NT call to a relationship with Jesus Christ:  goodness and mercy incarnate. 

The Sacrifice of Jesus on the cross showed God’s solidarity with victims throughout all time. Through His sacrifice the power of violence was renounced and the power of love and truth were advocated.  But not only has the self-giving God shown solidarity with the victims but He invites the perpetrators into the same divine circle of love with the victim. He does not abandon the godless to their evil.  “Christ died for the ungodly, the Just for the unjust.” He has loved our enemies when we could not. In a divine relationship with Him we are able to show mercy, repeated mercy and mercy again.

A life sentence should be given for a heinous crime such as murder.  Life in prison would be a just sentence.  It would allow for the possible redemption of the murderer. We don’t know whether a murderer will repent when he is given a life sentence but we do know from Scripture that the same goodness and mercy which follows you and me all the days of our lives also follows him all the days of his incarceration.  Giving a murderer a life sentence is merciful. Time is mercy for the condemned.  I now see capital punishment as being opposed to the Cross and the act of mercy

Two thousand years ago, two thieves, one on each side of Jesus, received capital punishment for their crimes. One repented.  One did not. The onlookers and the victims and accusers of the thieves had also been followed by the same goodness and mercy as were the thieves.  And like the thieves they would also have to decide where they stood in relation to the Cross of Christ. So would Barabbas. Time as mercy would tell.

*****

The ‘new’ “Eye for an eye” justice:

 “For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.”

 Jesus as recorded Matthew’s gospel (7:2)

 “So what makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus himself and then delivered to us by those who heard him speak?”

 The writer of Hebrews (2:3)

The quality of mercy is not strain’d,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.

Portia in The Merchant of Venice

Shakespeare

Filed under Christian character, Christianity, Life As I See It, Life story Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

Convergence

September 2, 2011 Leave a comment

Apartment life. Life ala compressed multiculturalism and noise.  People upstairs. People downstairs. People next door. Surround sound, surround smell, surround people 24/7. No man is an apartment unto himself.

Latin oompah music pumps my eardrums at all hours.  Asian Techno music throbs somewhere in the water pipes.  An unbalanced washing machine in the basement bangs against the wall or is it the churning dance music beat of the sixteen year old listening to Pit Bull in the next apartment? Fights, arguments, door slamming and door knocking. Sounds of silence  – No Vacancy here.

 The Filipino couple across the hall is fighting again.  The guy’s stuff is scattered all over the second floor hallway and in front of my door. He knocking, calling and crying. No one answers – for about four hours.

 The black girl in apartment C has just came home from work. She’s carrying her one year old son up the stairs. The boy’s father will be over on the weekend. He wishes she lived on the first floor. In a recently and easily overheard argument I heard him say to her “You never see the things I don’t do.” I knew at that point that things would not get better. I turn up Lacrimosa from Mozart’s Requiem.

 On the weekends, the Brit school teacher in apartment B gets in his car to pick up his two-year old son. Otherwise, he has satellite TV and the nearby sports bar.

 The drunk in apartment C routinely stumbles through the hallway to get his social security check out of the mailbox. He will soon walk over to the same sports bar.

 A young Asian couple moved upstairs last weekend. For some reason they roam their bedroom all night long.  Their footsteps run across my ceiling putting out my dreams.

 Again tonight the hippie couple who live downstairs and two doors over sit outside by their clay chiminea. The smell of pot is becoming heavy in the air. No way to Teach Your Children.

I close my patio door to that dreamland wafting up and to the choking smoke coming from grilling Tecate chicken below me. I had wanted to sit outside on my small porch and enjoy the summer night but there is also a guy fixing his SUV in the parking lot.  The SUV rear-end is jacked up and so is Lil Wayne’s She Will. Stille nacht not.

 Tik Tok. In case you are wondering, I get up at 3:30 am in the morning and get ready for work. I catch the 5:04 train to the city. So, I go to bed at 8:15 pm. But tonight, like every other night, the Hispanic family downstairs decides to use their bathroom.  This is a problem because for the past year the fan, which toggles “On” with the light, makes a “grrrr” sound like its being forced to run against its electrical will. The “grrrr” sound continues through my neighbor’s shower and then some into my angst. Why don’t they get it fixed? No entiendo.  Maybe, there is so much other noise they can’t tell there is a problem.

 And, oh yeah, I had to stop using the building’s washer and dryer. I think someone uses Sackrete to wash their clothes. I now use a local laundry mat and that is a whole other reality series experience. I tell myself I get to meet new and interesting people.

 It’s Friday night and this is all I know:   Estoy muy cansado and I am rocking myself to sleep in the free world.

© Sally Paradise, 2011, All Rights Reserved

Filed under Life As I See It, non-fiction, Short Piece, short piece, Writing Tagged with , ,

Bureaucracy Speaks

September 1, 2011 Leave a comment

Paradise News Release (PNR):

On Thursday, Sept. 8th, 2011, Bureaucracy To Speak Before a Joint Session of Bureaucrats:

Using the core principles of Newspeak Barrack Hussein Obama or The Bureaucrat of the ruling class inner party, is expected to deliver a moving speech (hopefully avoiding teleprompter whiplash), before a joint session of bureaucrats. Directors of the Ministry of Peace, the Ministry of Plenty, The Ministry of Truth and the Ministry of Love will all be in attendance.

Before his fellow bureaucrats Obama will present the reasons for the economic problems at hand: you, me and a dog named Boo.  Tilting at windmills, he will verbally attack the America-loving Tea-Party. He will blame them for making his bureaucracy so difficult to maintain. He will remind us just how hard he has worked for our benefit. And, with Big Brother love he will tell us that he only wants the best for us, that only he knows what is best for us. He is a community organizer after all, born and bred by the likes of Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers and a host of Radical Progressive myopians. He wants us to understand that he is just one of us born to rule.

Our Dear Leader will remind us that we the people even managed to interrupt his vacation with our concerns about Hurricane Irene.

In his ineffable non-partisan way Obama will pronounce that Republicans and Tea-Party Proles are to blame for the economic mess we are in. He will also invoke the force majeure clause in his contract with America. (BTW: for atheistic and agnostic Americans, it’s still God’s fault.) And, he will remind us that the bureaucratic buck should never stop long enough to stick to him. He’s from Chicago.

Obama will once again play the Bush card by telling us that he inherited his problems from W.  He will say this while asking to pile on more debt via more stimulus money in a move reminiscent of his own first two years in office.

Obama won’t mention that his aunt and uncle are in the US illegally. He doesn’t want to inherit any of that.

In a nod to the Outer Party (those who have been under liberal university tutelage) Obama will tell them to continue to Lean Forward.  A sign that he wants them to embrace the Rainbow Peacock just as he has done.

His speech will include class warfare indictments against those rich people with teleprompters of their own (not state-owned) and against those who use corporate jets to take vacations (this type of luxury is reserved only for bureaucrats of his stature and for those up and coming bureaucrats in the Outer Party).

On that night, our Beloved Leader, Barrack Hussein ‘Moses’ Obama will speak to us about the Progressive Land of milk and honey based on his dream of wealth re-distribution rationing.

In order to spur the damaged economy, he will offer higher taxation on taxes – if you pay taxes you must pay more taxes. He will clean up government waste by hiring only union sympathizing bureaucrats for any bureaucratic position. He will bring in a new economist to his financial team who will tell him he was right all along.

He will offer ‘Green’ jobs (actually, ‘greenbacks’ or patronage ) as a means to get our country (actually, those close to him) out of the economic mire it is in.

In typical grandiose fashion Obama will offer his own alternative energy jobs plan:  build wind towers. (a project that he and Jeffrey Immelt of GE fully approve of)

Obama, confident in his appeal, will remind us that we need to create jobs to get people back to work. And, that we each need to do our part.

Finally, Obama is expected to talk down to the Prole class.  After all, they are too stupid to know better than that Someone who has no experience but lots of campaign money and connections

Let the bureaucratic babble begin! After the speech, celebrate with some Victory-gin!

Your faithful and obedient reporter, Winston Smith.

*******

“Under the spreading chestnut tree
I sold you and you sold me—“

 from 1984 by George Orwell

Filed under 2012 election, Current Events 2011, Economics, Life As I See It, Political Commentary Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

It’s A Nuclear Family Affair

August 27, 2011 Leave a comment

The Big Bang or the time of the Great Annihilation, when Matter and Antimatter clashed and cosmic sparks went flying, the progeny of majorons provided the universe with an asymmetric mix of neutrinos and anti-neutrinos, more quarks than anti-quarks. And, that’s what Mattered the most.

It was in That Beginning that Time and his twin-brother Space were born. Since that day, they sprawl the universe with their feet up and their hands behind their head.  Under a contractual agreement, though, they will have to return – from whence they came.

 Time, the patient caregiver, the healer of all wounds, or, as has been seen, the brutal tormentor of the long-sufferer, always takes his time. He’s been known to say, “A day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.”

 Space, a distance runner, hopes to place in the next inter-galactic marathon.

 Space and Time or Space-Time as they are often called spend most of their time-space wrestling in gelatin with friends and neighbors. They tell me that this adds dimension to their lives. They listen to string-theory music while wrestling.

 Miss Universe, a stellar beauty, is curvy. The brothers also spend their time following her around.

 Speed-of-Light, the brothers’ close friend, always beats them to the remote whenever something special is broadcast.

 My family, the Atoms family, spends its time playing king-of-the-hill and marbles. We do like knock-knock jokes. Little Hydrogen gets pushed around a lot, though.

 The Nebulae Family members, known for their starry eyes, are nomadic. They spend their time gazing at Space-Time from a point of departure somewhere in the galaxy.

 The favorite saying of the Planet households is “What goes around comes around.” Their favorite hangout is the Milky Way.  They own several tanning salons.

 I guess that if Time were to be no more and if Space was pigeonholed and if Speed-of-light was somehow surpassed and if Family Nebulae no longer roamed and if the Planet households split up then, God knows, you and I are no longer relative.

© Jennifer A. Johnson, 2011, All Rights Reserved

H/T to italo calvino

 

“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
   Tell me, if you understand.
 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
   Who stretched a measuring line across it?
 On what were its footings set,
   or who laid its cornerstone—
 while the morning stars sang together
   and all the angels shouted for joy? Job 38:4-7

 

*****

“We don’t allow faster-than-light neutrinos in here,” says the bartender.

A neutrino walks into a bar.

–Joke circulating on the internet

Filed under Astronomy, Life As I See It, Science, science fiction, short piece, Writing Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Heaven’s Home

July 30, 2011 Leave a comment

At 3:38 am this morning I awoke melancholy from a very sad dream. Without giving you the details, the dream replayed my grief and loss from a divorce, especially the fact that my children and my family are no longer with me everyday. As I write this I am still reeling from the effect of this dream.

The end of this dream is mystifying, as dreams tend to be. I saw myself enter a business meeting with a woman friend of mine. We both sat down at a conference table across from our clients. I whispered to my friend that I wanted to borrow her engagement ring for the meeting. She handed me her diamond under the table and I put it on my ring finger. Then I awoke almost crying.

****

If you have ever seen Terrence Malik’s movie Days Of Heaven and the scene of the singular house on the hill then you may have some idea of what I am about to describe.

Since childhood, my recurrent dream of heaven is a specific image: I see a small one room cottage sitting on the crest of a rolling hill. It is almost midday. Effusive 11:00 o’clock sunshine gilds the opulent scene. The light infuses everything including me. I am of it.

The cottage stands alone, nested in a bright sea of yellow flowers. I see the flowers move in waves as cool breezes wash my face with the freshest of air. The sun warms my cheeks. I face home. I know that this is my forever home. “Delight” is the only earthly word I can affix to my emotions.

The dream always has me looking at the cottage from a short distance. I have never been inside but I always sense that I will love living there. And though I am alone in the dream I do not feel alone. Rather, I know that Jesus comes to my home. My family comes and my parents come and those who have died come to this place. They are all bathed in the same golden light in this never-ending day.

There are imaginings of sumptuous feasts, of raucous laughter, of child’s play and of a complete collapse into the arms of the One Who’s hands are forever scarred.

What has been lost has now been regained seven-fold. Heaven.

Filed under Christianity, Life As I See It Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Life Lessons I Will Pass On to My Kids

July 22, 2011 2 Comments

Don’t hold grudges. I’ve known several people, mostly women, who’ve held a grudge against someone for years. They never relinquish their anger, they never forgive, they never reconcile. They just hold on to their anger because it feels safe and powerful to be angry. But, if you have ever prayed the Lord’s Prayer then you are asking to be forgiven in the same way that you have forgiven (or not forgiven) others. Don’t hold grudges because grudges hold you hostage and they keep others out of your ever shrinking world.

Learn to say, “I’m sorry.” Admit you were wrong. “I’m sorry. Forgive me. I was wrong.” Don’t ever apologize with a blaming apology: “I’m sorry but I did it because you…” I don’t know how many times someone has done this to me. I realize that it is not a true apology but the person’s pride which is speaking. A true apology requires humility. Don’t blame others in your apology. Make your apology by stating what you did wrong. Ask for forgiveness and then shut up.

Face your fears. What’s bugging you? What’s gnawing at your insides causing you to bite your fingernails, drink excessively, spend compulsively and complain incessantly? What are you afraid of? Spell it out on paper. Tell yourself the worst that could happen and prepare for that. Then, get on with your life knowing that the worst that can happen will be dealt with at that time. Keeping your fears alive might make you feel alive but your body, your wife and your friends will bear the brunt of your worry. Face your fears and decide what you will do proactively to address them.

Learn to adapt. Life is hard. Life will throw curve balls at you. Find ways to adapt to change. Expect change and see it as a challenge given to you by God to grow thereby. Sometimes you need new soil to make growth happen. Don’t be afraid. Get on with your life, welcome the opportunity and grow. Change makes goals and desires all the more defined and dearer. I’ve learned, duh, that God knows the beginning from the end. He is already where I am going. He knows my desires. He knows what I want without saying a word. He’s making things happen for my benefit.

Be open-minded. The fact that you are only human should be enough notice to you that you don’t have all the facts. You are not omniscient. Be ready to receive new information, ask questions and listen to others. This will help you discern whether you believe in only half-truths. You want the whole truth. You should be seeking the whole truth in every situation and not something which only fits your politic. Be teachable.  Jesus said The meek shall inherit the earth.

Don’t complain. I know someone who has worked for a company for over twenty years. This guy complains about his boss and how his boss handles things. This guy believes that he knows better than his boss how to run things. Every night he comes home to his wife angry and spiteful. He complains to her and to every one he’s in a relationship with. He’s miserable and he wants every one to feel his misery. My guess is that everyone around him is sick and tired of his whining. They wish that he would quit that job and do something with his life other than complain. But, he likes to recycle his misery. It gives him some measure of pleasure. So, his complaining continues. Don’t complain – just shut up.

Be thankful. You don’t deserve anything except to be physically and emotionally safe from harm. Be grateful and not full of grating discontent.

Be courteous.  These days more and more people are becoming uncaring, thoughtless and just plain rude.  The “rights” revolution is the effect of people becoming  more self-absorbed.  It has given people a sense that they can do whatever they want whenever they want.  Don’t be like them.  Be responsible and kind. Be aware of people around you.  Turn off the cell phone and the loud music.  Be polite and gracious.  Be a light in the darkened wasteland of self.

Choose good friends. I don’t have to tell you that bad friends will bring you down. Good friends will be there when things change for the worse or for the better. You don’t need Job’s friends so it might be better to be alone than to have bad friends. I am a lone and waiting for good friends. Mark Twain said, “Be good and you will be lonesome.” Sad, but often true!

Get married when you are young.  Marriage is good.  For a woman, having children and being a wife and a homemaker is much more fulfilling than having a career. Don’t waste your time trying to become something in the business world.  This kind of nonsense is just rotten leftovers from the feminist movement.  Many people including parents have bought into this notion. This movement thought that if you were equal with men in the workplace and careers you would be complete as a woman and be a success  Well, your body, your heart and your soul know differently. If you have a high school sweetheart and you are both in love and committed to having sex only after marriage I say then,  marry right after high school.  If you wait and marry someone at, say, 28 or 30 by then habits, mainly bad ones from living a single lifestyle, are already ingrained and are very, very difficult to work with. Marry early and grow together. Each of you will change over time and become different people.  This is a fact of life. But this won’t matter if you choose love and commitment over self-interest, if you choose adaption and not abortion of your love.

Love is learned.  Love doesn’t just happen. Love takes a lot of trial and error and lot’s of hard work.  Love is kind, gentle and patient. The hottest fires of passion happen when you have acted in love toward your wife or husband.  Love offers itself without asking for anything in return. Love does what is best for the other person.  It is not selfish. It doesn’t seek its own way. This is the opposite of what the world tells you.  Be aware of this.

Sex is good. Sexual relations between a man and a woman in a committed relationship is wonderful. Outside of this boundary sex becomes an animal reflex and diminishes your sense of self, your humanity. It becomes a cheap thrill.

Give.  Give freely.  Don’t hold back.  This pleases your Father in heaven.

God is not going to do what you can do already. You can ask God for wisdom but if God has given you wisdom already then don’t ask again hoping to get a different answer. You can ask for courage to do what you know. God will bring you through circumstances that will either produce courage/character in our lives or it will produce a stubborn rebellion. It’s your choice. Just know that God has given you liberty to decide what response you will have. Be ready to accept the consequences of your bad response.

Life is short, choose wisdom. Your body, your bank account and your buddies will be thankful you did.

We are family, blood, and we take care of each other. ‘nuf said.

Ask dad. In any situation, when you don’t know which way to go, ask your father. He’s come a long way and he knows the territory.

“When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.” (often attributed to Mark Twain)

“It is a wise child that knows its own father, and an unusual one that unreservedly approves of him.” Mark Twain

Trust God with all your heart. He knew you before you were born.

Pray. Let your every breath and every heartbeat become a prayer.

Filed under Christian character, Christianity, Life As I See It, Life Lessons, Wisdom Tagged with , , ,

2012: I’m Shovel Ready

July 9, 2011 Leave a comment

2012:  Do you really want four more years of:

  • Blaming Bush for the enormous national debt incurred under Obama’s watch?
  •  Blaming corporate jet owners for having money? (The jets are primarily used to make sales that create & maintain jobs. BTW: Nancy Pelosi uses a government (the largest corp.)- jet.)
  •  Straw man arguments leading to more blaming of others and deflection of responsibility?
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  • Obama’s wars?
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  • Blaming the failure of bad economic policies on under funding (not enough tax money coming in)?
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  • 9.2 % unemployment, recession and inflation?
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  • Condescension, obstinacy & shaming?
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  • A destructive learning curve for a Chicago politician with no life experience other than the circle jerking of community organizing?
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  • Class warfare & the segregation of people into economic & social classes, turning America backwards in time?
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  • Inciting racism and hate speech among blacks and the liberal media?
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  • Being told that social justice favors the poor and takes advantage of the rich?
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  • Incompetence at every turn? (Did it really take much thought to pull the trigger on UBL?)
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  • Utter & blatant narcissism?
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  • No business acumen whatsoever?
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  • A president who blindly sides with militant Palestinians against Israel?
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  • A president who apologizes for the US every chance he gets (to win approval)?
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  • A First Lady who says living in the White House is hell.
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  • Knowing that your future earnings will be given to the government and that you get only pennies on the dollar in return?
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  • The theocracy of Socialism? Of the greed of preference?
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  • A “fair share” democracy which is defined by a small elite intellectual class and not by Justice?
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  • Putting Americans on the Road to Serfdom subject to the whims of an elite intellectual class? Of making Americans useful idiots?
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  • Obama’s political favoritism towards GE, labor unions and himself? Of never putting America first?
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  • A president who claims he is a Christian but uses Christ’s name only as a means to get his campaign in the door of churches and onto the screeds written by social justice’s “useful idiots”?
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  • Czars not sanctioned by Congress but paid for with your tax dollars (these people have jobs): Afghanistan Czar; AIDS Czar; Border Czar; California Water Czar; Car Czar; Central Region Czar; Climate Czar; Cyber Czar; Domestic Violence Czar; Drug Czar; Economic Czar; Energy and Environment Czar; Faith-Based Czar; Government Performance Czar; Great Lakes Czar; Green Jobs Czar; Guantanamo Closure Czar; Health Czar; Information Czar; Intelligence Czar; Mideast Peace Czar; Pay Czar; Regulatory Czar; Science Czar; Stimulus Accountability Czar; Sudan Czar; TARP Czar; Technology Czar; Terrorism Czar; Urban Affairs Czar; Weapons Czar; WMD Policy Czar
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  • Sloganeering:  Change, Hope, Yes We Can…of spin?
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  • A dumb-ing down of America for equal outcomes?
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  • The loss of property?
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  • The inability to use God-given natural resources?
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  • The devaluation of your citizenship by this administration’s blind eye to illegal immigration (to gain political advantage)
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  • The list goes on…but America may not, if Obama is re-elected.

Filed under 2012 election, Life As I See It, Political Commentary, Politics, Progressivism Tagged with , , , , ,

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