1. How freeing it is to apprehend that God uses every circumstance (even though He does not cause them all) in our life to develop both our character and our calling (purpose!)
2. God is all about family. He is the good, good Father, and we (every human being) are fully and unconditionally loved by Him. (thank you Chris Tomlin) That’s it! Our purpose as human beings is so simple … yet we mess it up all the time. Our individual calling (purpose) is simply to receive the boundless love of God, then share it with each & every person we encounter. Simple!
3. Since God is all about family, He sees no rejects, no losers, no lost causes. Since the beginning of time, He has desired a family. His desire is for ALL to join His family to share His goodness and His love, and since the beginning or your life and mine, He has been working to bring us into His family for the purpose of loving us. That’s it! No rules. No obligations. Only love! But … such unconditional love is so foreign it frightens most of us. Why?
4. Perhaps the most difficult concept to understand @ God is that He is much more concerned with our character than our comfort. He works continuously to craft each of us into unique billboards that radiate His love, so all may come into His family. It is God’s love that comforts us, corrects us, compels us & challenges us to share the love we so richly & abundantly receive. God is forever motivated by love, and so, too, we, as God’s sons and daughters are compelled to act out God’s love in our own lives.
5.”What if you rejected everything about God that wasn’t God and accepted Him for who He is — God for you?” This is from a powerful little book entitled, IF, by Mark Batterson
How much of what we attribute to God ought to actually be attributed to the words, attitudes, or deeds of certain believers? The single most radical concept of God is that He chooses in every case to love each person, AND He continuously moves heaven and earth to draw each one into His forever family. Unfortunately, none of us get it right … even most of the time,but He never stops drawing us. e never stops teaching us. He never stops lov
Unknown or unacknowledged by many, our forefathers erected a “Matrix of Liberty” for the purpose of documentation. It documents the road map they followed to win and establish LIBERTY in AMERICA. The monument has been there for decades, built with government funds, in the off chance We, the People would lose our way and allow the government to assume tyrannical power. Oops! Good thing, right? Yet, it is ignored.
Below, the matrix is explained. Each of the granite figures carries meanings like pieces of a puzzle. I have outlined each figure below, but the video completes the explanation. Please watch and be amazed!!!
FAITH
Meet FAITH! She is paramount! She is pointing upward toward the God of the Bible. FAITH in God is what brought the first Pilgrims, or Separatists, to Plymouth. Not the sour, pious stiffness we were told in school, but a LIVE FAITH that carried them through persecution and hardship as they broke free from tyranny.
MORLITY
Morality is internal liberty, and starts in the HEART of the individual. As we pursue our God in faith, He teaches us true fairness via internal morality of heart.
EVANGELIST
EVANGELISTS preach the message that transforms the heart. TRUE Freedom and Morality are products of FAITH in GOD and His Promises, the BIBLE, studied and taught to every person.
LAW
A MORAL SYSTEM translated from God’s Law into civil law, balanced by MERCY and JUSTICE, with Equality under the LAW for each individual.
EDUCATION
A Woman training her young children (YOUTH) according to heart-held principles and an honorable character, preparing the next generation to carry forward the “Matrix of Liberty!”
LIBERTY
LIBERTY is the result of following the “Matrix of Liberty!” LIBERTY is seated in Victory. He is holding the broken chains of the manacle of tyranny attached to his leg. He has slain the Lion Tyrant, yet bears the marks as a remembrance on his shoulder. Liberty has his foot on the chest of Tyranny, holding it down by following God’s principles only – no bloodshed! Strength based on Morality, overcoming evil with Goodness!
So much of what we were taught in school, and even more of what our children are being taught in school today is simply untrue based on historical documents still in existence. Notably, the first Bibles printed in the United States were funded by CONGRESS in 1782 for the use of our SCHOOLS – First public school law!!! Bibles were used in schools starting in 1647 through 1963 (which I remember!)
LEARN MORE … PLEASE WATCH VIDEO!!!!!
So … where do we go from here, America? Toward FAITH or TYRANNY?
We are surrounded by promises, in America, and most of them never had any intention of being fulfilled! Politicians say exactly what they think we want to hear, not because they actually believe it, but simply to earn our trust and our vote. Broken promises have been in the news lately with the “If you like your plan and your Doctor, you can keep them!” lie. The President and his adherents knew from the beginning that was a lie, yet they intentionally repeated it for months.
Contrary to the multitude of unfulfilled promises of politicians, GOD fulfills promises everyday. The Bible is filled with wonderful & lofty promises that, frankly, are incredibly hard to believe. Yet, any one of us can challenge GOD’S faithfulness by apprehending any promise in faith.
At the top of the page is a promise: All things are possible with God. (Matthew 19:26)
Believe that? I mean do you believe it in your LIFE, or just with your head? There is a difference!
There are many, many more!
Pick a promise! Choose one that fits a difficult circumstance in your life. Pick it & believe it! Each & every promise issues from the loving heart of God. Every one! But that’s not the cool part! The cool part is that GOD has spoken each promise to ME and to YOU … as individuals! When GOD says, “Don’t be afraid, for I AM with you. Don’t be dismayed, for I AM your GOD! I will comfort you! Yes, I will help you! And I will uphold you with the right hand of My righteousness!” (Isaiah 41:10) GOD is talking to me, but HE is also talking to you. All we have to do … is actively BELIEVE! Can you do that? I can …if I remember who GOD is. If I remember He designed Creation, all its moving parts (not the parts mankind has corrupted, but the wondrous ways Laws of Nature,) and brought it into being with a Word! Ha!
In spite of GOD’S vastness, or maybe because if it, GOD has set His unfathomable love on us, and we see that in His promises. All his promises flow from that love and are evidenced in His unspeakable GOODNESS!
The yes to all of God’s promises is in Christ, and through Christ we say yes to the glory of God.2 Corinthians 1:20
LOVE. It’s our deepest, most urgent need. It’s a requirement for life. Every single human shares this basic need, yet in spite of the volumes written on the topic, a vast array of poems and songs written on the subject, few of us have a clear handle of exactly what Love is.
We often hear “Life is a journey” these days, and I suggest that Love is our destination and our source. We taste it on clear sunny days. We smell it in a gentle spring shower. We hear it in the laughter of children, and we get a glimpse in the touch of a loved one. Never a banquet, only a sample, enough to compel us onward … and a Promise.
Love is not weak, easy, or shallow. Love always … always multiplies. The deepest Love is a promise, a unity of hearts, goals, and future hope.
11 I say this because I know what I am planning for you,” says the Lord. “I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. I will give you hope and a good future. 12 Then you will call my name. You will come to me and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will search for me. And when you search for me with all your heart, you will find me! 14 I will let you find me,” says the Lord. “And I will bring you back from your captivity. Jeremiah 29:11-14
As humans, we typically look for the easy route, the path of lest resistance. But the richness of God’s Love takes us always into the deep water without a life jacket, not to drown us, as some suppose, but to empower us to fly higher, dive deeper, push harder, to continue on when there are no landmarks we recognize to take GOD’s love to each and every person. God’s love soothes and inspires. His love never changes … NEVER! Still, it doesn’t always feel like a warm blanket either, but Love is always … always ultimately drawing us to Him: our Source and our Goal, the Beginning and the End. One taste just isn’t enough, but how do we get there?
This song as always been a prayer to me. I’m asking God to show me what Love is … and I know He will answer. Care to take the plunge with me? It’s a little scary, but … is it safe? “Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.” ~ C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
♫ I Want to Know What Love is ♫
I gotta take a little time
A little time to think things over
I better read between the lines
In case I need it when I’m older
Aaaah woah-ah-aah
Now this mountain I must climb
Feels like a world upon my shoulders
And through the clouds I see love shine
It keeps me warm as life grows colder
In my life there’s been heartache and pain
I don’t know if I can face it again
Can’t stop now, I’ve traveled so far
To change this lonely life
I wanna know what love is
I want you to show me
I wanna feel what love is
I know you can show me
Aaaah woah-oh-ooh
I’m gonna take a little time
A little time to look around me, oooh ooh-ooh ooh-ooh oooh
I’ve got nowhere left to hide
It looks like love has finally found me
In my life there’s been heartache and pain
I don’t know if I can face it again
I can’t stop now, I’ve traveled so far
To change this lonely life
I wanna know what love is
I want you to show me
I wanna feel what love is
I know you can show me
I wanna know what love is
I want you to show me
And I wanna feel, I want to feel what love is
And I know, I know you can show me
Let’s talk about love
(I wanna know what love is) the love that you feel inside
(I want you to show me) I’m feeling so much love
(I wanna feel what love is) no, you just cannot hide
(I know you can show me) yeah, woah-oh-ooh
I wanna know what love is, let’s talk about love
(I want you to show me) I wanna feel it too
(I wanna feel what love is) I wanna feel it too
And I know, and I know, I know you can show me
Show me what is real, woah (woah), yeah I know
(I wanna know what love is) hey I wanna know what love
(I want you to show me), I wanna know, I wanna know, want know
(I wanna feel what love is), hey I wanna feel, love
I know you can show me, yeah
GOD is love! He is in the business of LOVE … for the Love of GOD!
Popular approval of Congress has reached an all time low as Americans reel under the vast scope of myriad scandals and lies perpetrated by this Administration. Yes! We have seen corruption before. Yes, we’ve been lied to before. Yes, we’ve even seen huge character flaws in our leaders before, but never … NEVER to the depth and scope to which we’re seeing today.
♫ Like a Rock ♫
Why? What has changed? What has happened to allow or facilitate such widespread corruption?
♫ Like a Rock ♫
Will a building stand if its foundation is compromised?
♫ Like a Rock ♫
Will a traveler reach his destination without first plotting his course & naming his destination?
♫ Like a Rock ♫
Can a nation long survive which has shredded its moral compass and floats aimlessly on sentimentalism?
♫ Like a Rock ♫
Perhaps innocently, perhaps with vile intent, social mores held firm throughout global civilizations over thousands of years, have suddenly (over the past few decades) come into question. GOD was declared dead April 8, 1966, and since that time, little by little, the once universal boundaries of Right & Wrong, have blurred. What was once, not more than generation ago, accepted behavior, has become “Old-fashioned” and “intolerant.”
Funny thing is, GOD is no place defined in our Founding documents, and the early Framers each held different personal beliefs. They intentionally kept all reference to GOD ambiguous so various individual beliefs might be adapted and accepted.
♫ Like a Rock ♫
The point is CHARACTER.
The point is GOALS … self-improvement … serving others.
The point is standing for something bigger than yourself.
The point is growing in personal integrity and service to the community… by choice, rather than by mandate.
The point … is standing firm on some defined principles that are other aware.
♫ Like a Rock ♫
Without a firm foundation to stand on, the tides of political correctness too easily blow us around until we find ourselves … surrounded by Corruption. Like so many of our political leaders, bought and sold to the highest bidder, we, too, succumb to the popular trends and thoughts, victims of popular opinion.
How did we get here? We allowed it by our own compromise.
♫ Like a Rock ♫
Take a stand for GOODNESS
Take a stand for KINDNESS
Take a stand for TRUTH
Take a stand for COMPASSION
Take a stand for your Neighbor, for the Homeless, for the mentally infirmed … to be personally involved!
♫ Like a Rock ♫
Find something bigger than yourself worth STANDING FOR, worth giving your life’s passion to support, worth working toward and Take a Stand.
“We must stop acting like children.
We must not let deceitful people trick us by their false teachings,
which are like winds that toss us around from place to place.” Eph 4:14 CEV
♫ Like a Rock ♫
Words and music by Bob Seger
Stood there boldly
Sweatin’ in the sun
Felt like a million
Felt like number one
The height of summer
I’d never felt that strong
Like a rock
I was eighteen
Didn’t have a care
Working for peanuts
Not a dime to spare
But I was lean and
Solid everywhere
Like a rock
My hands were steady
My eyes were clear and bright
My walk had purpose
My steps were quick and light
And I held firmly
To what I felt was right
Like a rock
Like a rock, I was strong as I could be
Like a rock, nothin’ ever got to me
Like a rock, I was something to see
Like a rock
And I stood arrow straight
Unencumbered by the weight
Of all these hustlers and their schemes
I stood proud, I stood tall
High above it all
I still believed in my dreams
Twenty years now
Where’d they go?
Twenty years
I don’t know
Sit and I wonder sometimes
Where they’ve gone
And sometimes late at night
When I’m bathed in the firelight
The moon comes callin’ a ghostly white
And I recall
I Recall …
Like a rock. standin’ arrow straight
Like a rock, chargin’ from the gate
Like a rock, carryin’ the weight
Like a rock
Like a rock, the sun upon my skin
Like a rock, hard against the wind
Like a rock, I see myself again
Like a rock
char·ac·ter (krk-tr)
n.
1. The combination of qualities or features that distinguishes one person, group, or thing from another.
2. A distinguishing feature or attribute, as of an individual, group, or category.
3. Genetics A structure, function, or attribute determined by a gene or group of genes.
4. Moral or ethical strength.
5. A description of a person’s attributes, traits, or abilities.
6. A formal written statement as to competency and dependability, given by an employer to a former employee; a recommendation.
7. Public estimation of someone; reputation: personal attacks that damaged her character.
8. Status or role; capacity: in his character as the father.
Glance through this list and a concept begins to emerge of CHARACTER. There is little talk these days of character as evidenced by my adult daughter asking me the meaning. “What is Character,” she asked. If we “fix” ourselves and our kids, the world will take care of itself! Maybe if Americans spent more thinking about their/our character, we could actually FIX whats wrong in our nation, and the world will take care of itself because what works for us as individuals, will also work for our nation and others.
My answer incorporated much of the ideas above. Character suggests ideals: An ideal is a model of something perfect or without equal. As an adjective, ideal describes this ultimate standard for excellence, or something that exists only as an idea.
So, what is our “ultimate standard for excellence?” Do we look to a man like Minnesota Vikings’ Adrian Peterson who has fathered at least 7 children out of wedlock? Or the New England Patriots’ Aaron Hernandez? Or maybe Kim Kardashian is more appropriate? How about Chris Brown? Beyonce? Or maybe we choose President OBAMA?
Typically, our young people look to celebrities and athletes as “heroes” because of the shortage of real heroes … or maybe there are still plenty of real heroes, but our perspective has changed?
“For where your treasure is,
there your heart will be also.”
Luke 12: 34
We each have a lifetime to build our character. We choose the definition of our character by our affections, by where we spend our time and/or our money. Most Americans surround themselves with … things. Where we spend our time and where we put our money are the greatest indicators of our character. Character is our most enduring legacy, so we each must decide how we want to be remembered and then work toward that goal. As “Honest Abe” Lincoln is remembered for his honesty, and Nixon is remembered for the Watergate debacle, each of us has the freedom to define our legacy, our character. Will we choose the popular “Kardashian” or “Peterson” standard of excellence, or the nobility of President Washington, the courage of Chris Kyle, or the boldness of Tim Tebow, our character is in process. What YOU decide will affect the future of your personal legacy, but also the future of America.
Yes, America, you and me, we need to talk: Do you want to be slave, or do you want to be Free?
That’s the question: Do you need to be Free,
As time exchanges blunt realities.
America, you and me, we need to talk: Freedom is about personal choices, dreams and goals,
But today, we are starved for such Life, Liberty,
And the drive to pursue happiness: slavery.
America, you and me, we need to talk: Leadership that chooses, with friendly masks,
To enslave by lethargy the weak among us,
With pretty words and outstretched hands: slavery.
America, you and me, we need to talk: We used to know, and usually did, the right thing,
The noble thing, the virtuous thing, the neighborly thing,
Now, it is the pampered, arrogant, and selfish thing that thrives: slavery.
America, you and me, we need to talk: I hear you say, through the veil of myriad sleep juice,
“Look at me now, dressed up so gangsta tough!”
But your heart is rotting within you, my love: slavery.
America, you and me, we need to talk: So much corruption and so little honor,
So much manufactured contention and so little real caring,
So much competition and so little family: slavery.
America, you and me, we need to talk: You plus me is supposed to equal we-the-people free,
It’s a musical equation most of us still know:
“O’re the land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.”
America, you and me, we need to talk: Old Glory still waves gracefully from coast to coast,
Over this land of immeasurable blessing,
No longer quite free, but I see pockets of COURAGE rising!
Out of the abundance of the heart, my mouth speaks,
From all that Life has poured into me thus far:
The good, the difficult, the fun, and the not-so-much fun;
The true riches of this world are incorruptible.
Out of the abundance of the heart, my mouth speaks,
Nuggets of golden wisdom wrapped in pain,
Compassion born of struggle, and patience from grief,
Still joy and rejoicing come freely in the morning.
Out of the abundance of the heart, my mouth speaks,
Paper lies unfold and fall away along with phantom pain,
But gratitude flows unchecked, persistent, and random,
Like the flight of a butterfly through a bountiful garden.
What is the treasure that germinates in your heart?
What dream or trial or endless rage?
What is the Source or Goal of your heart?
What is our Creator building deep inside you?
“A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good;
and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” Luke 6:45 NKJV
Do Americans ever consider the innumerable sacrifices made by previous Americans to purchase the liberties so casually laid aside these days? Do we understand the concepts of pledging to one another “our Lives, our Fortunes, and our Sacred Honor?”
When did Americans lose sight of reality, of the realistic difference between our NEEDS and our WANTS?
When did Americans lose appreciation for the value of good, honest work?
When did Americans stop talking to one another and become a nation of isolationists living in loneliness?
Did the Bible and the Constitution become “old-fashioned” simultaneously? Is that a peculiar ‘coincidence?’
It is appalling to me that as a civilization, we have been manipulated to turn on one another, to question the values our parents and grandparents valued – that made America the most desired destination of NON-Americans, that made America the MOST entrepreneurial, the MOST innovative, the MOST prosperous, the MOST generous, the MOST charitable, and the MOST self-reliant. Within the time of a generation, what was once sought after – CHARACTER – is now scoffed at as “Old-fashioned.”
Is it any wonder our economy is in the tubes and failing, our society is in open decay, and our political structure is corrupt to the very roots.
Aimless wondering
Lost without a compass, most people will wonder in a circle. Many Americans have thrown aside the moral compass that guided our parents and grandparents. Problem is, nothing has taken its place. In the absence of a moral compass, these Americans wonder making moral decisions subjectively. With nothing to rest our decisions on, nothing to remind us of consequences or rewards, it is natural to wonder in circles, making no progress in spite of the political jargon.
A nation without honor is a nation without a future. Today the United States finds itself in a quagmire of ever-increasing self-doubt and foreboding. Chief among the factors that have brought America to this point has been the abandonment of a sense of what is right, just and true as it relates to the duty imposed by conscience. Honor is being abandoned and replaced by duplicity, avarice, self-aggrandizement, cowardice, and an unbridled lust for power and notoriety.
These characteristics are symptomatic of the bulk of the American governing class that has increasingly adopted, as their sacrosanct tenet, the concept that the end justifies the means. In their position atop the societal pyramid they have been devastatingly influential in undermining the morality and integrity of the citizenry. As Herbert Hoover once observed: “When there is a lack of honor in government, the morals of the whole people are poisoned.”
As the greatest fear of the founding fathers comes to pass — an overwhelmingly powerful central government — the base nature of the human race comes increasingly to the fore. This evolutionary process, while underway for some time, has thoroughly permeated society as the nation is now reaching the tipping point.
Whether in the various state capitols or the once hallowed halls of Congress or the now tarnished grandeur of the White House, the acquisition and retention of political power by any means necessary, and the attendant access to ever larger sums of money, either borrowed, created out of whole cloth or coerced from the taxpayers, has become firmly entrenched in the nation’s political psyche. Party identity notwithstanding, in order to achieve this end, nothing is beyond the pale — be it fraud, corruption, outright lies, or immorality.
No one person on the American landscape today more epitomizes this descent into dishonor than Barack Obama. His earliest days in politics were marked with unethical and oftentimes dishonest tactics in eliminating his opposition. He has revealed an untroubled willingness to prevaricate and make up so-called facts to suit his personal agenda. He has proven himself to be untrustworthy and a man whose word is meaningless. His narcissism knows no bounds as he oversees the premeditated decline of the United States concurrent with seeking to transform the nation into his vision of a socialist state. All the while exploiting his skin color as he calculatingly divides Americans into groups which he coldly and with forethought pits against each other.
The recent re-election campaign of Barack Obama encapsulated all these traits into the strategy employed as he set out to not only personally destroy his opposition by innuendo and falsehoods but to hoodwink the American voter. Unfortunately, the voters have become receptive to these tactics as they have been conditioned over the past forty years by an education establishment — dominated by greed, self-absorption and fealty to statist ideology — to believe that government, as controlled by the American left, is the source of wealth and salvation. Adding to this indoctrination, the entertainment industry, whose primary concern is an unfettered lifestyle, has slowly but surely convinced a near majority of the people that there are no moral absolutes.
The mainstream media, also concerned with an unfettered lifestyle but more importantly with access to the politically powerful, have chosen sides and become an extension of the state propaganda machinery as well as pawns in the hands of Barack Obama and the Democrats. Many in the media, also greatly influenced by the education and entertainment establishment, have left any semblance of honor at the doorway of cronyism as they safeguard their standard of living.
Far too many in the corporate and financial sphere have cast their principles aside as they too are increasingly operating their enterprises with the end justifies the means mindset. Further, as much of the free market is effectively under the thumb of government bureaucrats and politicians, many are convinced that in order to survive and prosper they must “play the game” with Washington D.C. and financially support those who have amassed the power to destroy them. Others have willing prostituted themselves and openly become crony capitalists eerily reminiscent of the relationship between industry and the government in fascist Italy and Germany.
This debasement of honor has extended its tentacles into many religious institutions who are now preaching the gospel of big government, abortion, euthanasia, and the toleration of any lifestyle. (emphasis bbb’s) They are doing so in order to maintain some semblance of a congregation and the income derived from the same as well as groveling before the almighty monolith on the shores of the Potomac River… Read more
Have we become nation that has embraced “the Ends justify the means” mentality? What will it cost us? What has it already cost us?
“Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye,
but do not consider the plank in your own eye?
Or how can you say to your brother,
‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’;
and look, a plank is in your own eye?
Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye,
and then you will see clearly to remove the speck
from your brother’s eye.”
Mt 7: 3-5
In between, “my way or the highway,” and, “live and let live,” grew a nation of diverse people with a variety of beliefs, religions, and cultures. For decades, this diverse group lived together in relative peace. When skirmishes arose, they were faced and resolved as adults.
What changed?
Several things!
The early 1960’s brought about a cataclysmic fault in American culture that set in motion a chain of events that turned America upside down.
American innocence was lost.
Vietnam: The war in southeast Asia that had been simmering for many years began to escalate and the US became involved under President John F. Kennedy (JFK).
“The Vietnam War was a long, costly armed conflict that pitted the communist regime of North Vietnam and its southern allies, known as the Viet Cong, against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. The war began in 1954 (though conflict in the region stretched back to the mid-1940s), after the rise to power of Ho Chi Minh and his communist Viet Minh party in North Vietnam, and continued against the backdrop of an intense Cold War between two global superpowers: the United States and the Soviet Union. More than 3 million people (including 58,000 Americans) were killed in the Vietnam War; more than half were Vietnamese civilians. By 1969, at the peak of U.S. involvement in the war, more than 500,000 U.S. military personnel were involved in the Vietnam conflict. Growing opposition to the war in the United States led to bitter divisions among Americans, both before and after President Richard Nixon ordered the withdrawal of U.S. forces in 1973. In 1975, communist forces seized control of Saigon, ending the Vietnam War, and the country was unified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam the following year.”
About the same time, one atheist woman, Madalyn Murray O’Hair, made lots of noise to have God removed from schools. June 25, 1962, the Supreme Court stopped school prayer.
The assassinations of JFK, MLK, and RFK: Not long after the Supreme Court ruled in her favor, JFK was assassinated November 22, 1963 in Dallas. A few years later, Martin Luther king, Jr, a peace-loving, civil rights advocate and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was slain at a motel April 4, 1968 in Tennessee. Two months later, JFK’s brother, Robert (RFK) was also killed June 6, 1968, in Los Angeles.
Roe v Wade: On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court rendered the decision that continues to tear our nation apart. Abortion was legalized in the heat of misleading propaganda that filled the airways with images of back alley botched attempts. Forty years later, the passion has not dissipated as evidenced by the recent Anniversary March, January 22, 2013 in Washington, as over 500,000 Americans rallied calling for ROE v WADE to be overturned.
Something happened deep inside American culture in those early days of the 1960’s with Ms O’Hair’s angry rhetoric that planted seeds of rebellion that are coming to full fruition today. As an atheist, she proclaimed an unwillingness to “tolerate” the practice of prayer in schools. The rest of America remained silent, so she won and her lack of tolerance became the battle cry for the progressive “secular humanist” agenda that rules our schools today. Her unwillingness to “tolerate” viewpoints different than her own went viral and spawned today’s juvenile, intolerant society.
Thing is, we’re all Americans and each is entitled to his/her own opinion. So now,we have the various positions lashing out and name calling, fully engaged in schoolyard behavior … as adults?
One of life’s lessons that I happened to learn the hard way, is that “I am not responsible for the responses and action of others. But I AM responsible for my own actions, words and responses!” As parents, we do our best to guide our children through the maze of life’s pitfalls. We teach them to brush after meals, to wash their hands when they’re done in the bathroom and before eating, and to change their underwear everyday. We teach them to finish their homework, to wipe their feet, and to not put personal info on Facebook. But do we take the time to teach them about the feelings and opinions of others?
The grown up version of this is seen and heard everyday in our political arena. name-calling and finger pointing starts at the White House and trickles all the way down the socio-economic-political ladder to the recipients of welfare and food stamps. We’re no longer encouraged to try to understand the viewpoint of others, but rather, we’re pushed to blame the opposition for what ails us. There is no maturity, no respect for different opinions, and no acceptance of responsibility for our OWN attitudes toward others. Is this not just a fancy expression for BULLYING???
Most Americans recognize Bullying as a significant issue in our schools today, but where are the kids learning their behavior? From their PARENTS!!! Adults today may be chronologically adult, but emotionally, many are quite adolescent!
Which brings us back to that log in your eye, or, more accurately, the log in MY eye. For whatever reasons, we are prompted today to focus more on the flaws in other people, particularly those living different lifestyles, than on our own character. We live in a nation that proclaims religious liberty which means we are each free to choose our own belief system. I am not required to believe what you believe, and you don’t have to share my belief system. Rather than criticize your beliefs, your stand, or your character, it’s better, i.e. more productive if I concentrate on my own character, my own beliefs, and my own stand, and let God take care of everyone else as He cares for me! This way, we can each enjoy our personal FREEDOM!
CONCLUSION: Check the log in your own eye, and let everyone else enjoy their own life. If we want BULLYING to stop, we, as adults, must stop bullying one another.
Romans 14: 23 “…for whatever is not from faith is sin.”
3. Since God is all about family, He sees no rejects, no losers, no lost causes. Since the beginning of time, He has desired a family. His desire is for ALL to join His family to share His goodness and His love, and since the beginning or your life and mine, He has been working to bring us into His family for the purpose of loving us. That’s it! No rules. No obligations. Only love! But … such unconditional love is so foreign it frightens most of us. Why?
5.”What if you rejected everything about God that wasn’t God and accepted Him for who He is — God for you?” This is from a powerful little book entitled, IF, by Mark Batterson 
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