Blogging

One of the joys of having your own blog, or vlog if you so choose, is that you can post your ideas, your thoughts, your joys and sorrows to the world for the world to see, and comment on.  One of the downsides of having a blog is that often you feel obligated to blog, when you really don't want to, or really have nothing of earth-shattering importance to say.

This is one of those times.

It has, however, always baffled me why we hold law enforcement accountable when some despicable crime occurs, and, in hindsight, we discover the perpetrator had blogged about the crime only weeks before.  So ask yourself just how many blogs you follow?  How often do you search cyberspace for suspicious words or phrases that could lead to something dastardly? Or better yet, just how much more money are you willing to pour into law enforcement to give them the manpower and technology they need to patrol cyberspace, when we don't give them what they need to patrol the highways?

A recent Google of the word "hate" resulted in 722 million hits, neo-nazi - 3,800,000 (make that 3,800,001 after I post this), racist - nearly 68 million. How would you manage this? How would you want your Presidential candidate of choice this next year to address this?

Well, so much for my fifteen minutes of nothingness...

Until next time...

Here is a short video I would like you to watch:

This video captures the essence of everything Jesus was trying to tell people while He was walking among us.  When asked by the Scribe what was the greatest commandment, He gave two – To love the Lord with all your heart, with all your might, and with all your soul; and to love your neighbor as yourself. The bottom line is that as Christians, we are a part of the family of God.  As part of His family, we all have chores to do, and those chores are to reach out to others, both family members and non-family members with the same love, tolerance, and forbearance that Jesus Himself would show, and did show while He was here.

When we see something we think of as awful and ask God why He doesn’t do something about it, His only answer is, “I did – I put you there to help.” The video you just watched highlighted this exactly.  The truly Godly man on the island was the one who prayed, “Please answer all the prayers of the other man.” Jesus told us that our Father in heaven knows what we need, so if we have faith in that one thing, we can give ourselves to praying for others and reaching out to others.

Remember, when you are at your lowest, reach down, because God has placed you there to help someone who is lower than you.  Once you reach down to help that person, your Father will place His arm about your waist and lift you both up.

It is what it is

One of the things we have been hearing a lot lately is, "It is what it is". At first glance this seems to be a way of saying, "This is something we can not control or change, so it is not worth getting upset about". Okay, that would make sense, but it is not the end of it. "It is what it is" becomes an attitude all too quickly. Once it becomes an attitude, it saps your vitality, your energy, and your willingness to change - yourself and your world. At it's worse, "It is what it is" is a self-pitying, deprecating, piece of post-modern trash that tells you, "You don't matter; you can not effect change; you have no importance in your own life".

I have decided to reject this attitude at every level. The old prayer, "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference" includes not beating your head against a stone wall, but it also includes accepting the challenge to dig under, climb over, or go around that stone wall; not to just sit on the ground moaning, "It is what it is".

Starting today I am standing in the gap against IIWII, and I am inviting you to join me in prayer to stand in this gap as well.
GS