Meanwhile...

Since I last put words on this blog it seems as if many parts of the world are catching the fire of uncivil dissonance.
Keeping it simple: the world is wrong. God is right. Don't look to the world for stability or security-look only to God.
Jesus spoke of someone being wise enough to 'build their house on a solid foundation', contrasting that person with one who built his house on shifting sands. Guess what happened.
 Jesus even made it clearer. He said that He is the solid foundation-we who are called by His name are secure.
Keeping it simple.

No Joke

I'm on my third re-write. God defines who is "Evil" all through His book.
Yes, we are all sinners, but there are good people who do bad things sometimes, and evil people who bad things all of the time. Call them the militantly evil, the ones who prey on the unfortunate, who destroy innocent lives.
Whoever set off that suicide bomb in the Russian airport this week qualifies as militantly evil. Murdering innocent people is as wrong in Russia as it is in Arizona.
Where is God? He is in His Heaven, watching and working-nothing happens which is beyond His control.
Which means that there is a purpose even in such attacks as we have witnessed in this young year. If nothing else, when we hear of tragedies such as these, it should drive us to our knees asking God to protect us.
That Glorifies God even in the midst of human holocaust. He is not a monster for allowing it to happen. We are the monsters. He is God, and He has made a better future for us, where there will be no tears, no heartache, no suicide bombers or abortion doctors. I'm looking for that future while imperfectly trying to live a life pleasing to God in the here and now.
^"21    This I recall to my mind,     Therefore I have hope.
²²    The LORD’S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,     For His compassions never fail.
²³    They are new every morning;     Great is Your faithfulness.
²⁴    “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,     “Therefore I have hope in Him.”
²⁵    The LORD is good to those who wait for Him,     To the person who seeks Him.
²⁶    It is good that he waits silently     For the salvation of the LORD." Lamentations 3:21-26

Insanitized For Your Protection

Harya? Good.
I’ve been bumping around the internets for awhile now, and it’s interesting to see the vagaries and verities pinballing around those human social constructs.
Most of the world is crazy, and is shouting that crazy 28/8 on the internets. Wow.
What happens in a democratic world when the majority is crazy? Is Crazy then the norm, because majority rules?
No.
One man plus the truth is a majority.
Lies and myths can shake, rattle and roll their shadow dance 29/9...but all the false furor and wishful foolishnessess =0. Meaning that the Truth wins out every time, 30/10.
Not my truth vs. your truth. Not my opinion vs. yours-The Truth.
“Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” John 14:6
If you are part of the crazy, if the very thought of Jesus Christ being God goes against the very fiber of your soul and existence, you are doomed.
But please,have a nice day.

A Fresh Of Breath Air

Here you go-untrammeled beauty-I put 'beautiful day' into google images query and this was one of the results.
Life isn't always so hard. Have an exceptional day.

But The

I was talking with one of America's youth tonight who had never heard of Thelonious Monk.
No surprise really-what knowledge we accumulate in our lifetimes builds incrementally.
What brought this on? I was watching a movie the other night which had in it child actors who couldn't act.
They could hardly get their lines out, let alone emote, and I'm not picking on them-they simply haven't learned
their craft yet. They were chosen for their looks, not their 'talent'-which also happens to adult 'actors'.
Back to Monk. I don't want Thelonious Monk to be lost in history-I would love it if his music is still being played a hundred plus years from now. By then all the music ever recorded might be fit on a thumbdrive with near-infinite capacity. I hope that the musical appreciationists of 2111 keep Monk's music alive...while deleting Rod Stewart. Please.

Conflicted Not Convicted

A little experiment-I google imaged the word "convicted" and these are a few of the results. I was just thinking the other day about the citizens in our national penal system, what has been termed our "prison population".
Many prisoners accept Christ in prison, which Glorifies God. But I wonder how many Christians make the bad life decisions which puts them in jail?
I'm guessing not many-we are no better than anyone else, but our faith teaches us that we shouldn't be law-breakers, that we should color inside the lines of society and obey THE LAW.

Do we always succeed? Not a chance. If a Christian-I'll use Dr. Dino, Kent Hovind as an example-if a Christian runs afoul of the law, he deserves to be punished. Hovind went to jail. He's still there. I think that is right and proper.
Just an assumptive guesstimate, but I think that Christians (who were Christians pre-incarceration) probably make up less than one percent of the total prison population. In this country.
In many countries around the world Christians are imprisoned, tortured and killed for their faith, and for rejecting ___________ (go ahead-fill in the blank.).
But here in America? Freedom to express our faith. Cherish that. And don't screw up.

It Is To Laugh

I love it. I see stuff like the graffiti pictured above and I just grin. Let me translate:

“A stupid person needs the promise of heaven to see the merit of good deeds.”

Duh…huh? (Scratching my head) Do whut?  What do all them fancy squares have to do with th-oh wait---their bricks! He wrote on bricks! That’s a good un! Uhuh!

I’m going to kick start my assumpter machine. I’m going to assume that the person who placed this handwriting on the wall believes that an intelligent person doesn’t see the merits of Heaven. That a smart person is just good for goodness sake.
He or she seems to assume that we only do good deeds because we want to get to (work their way into) Heaven.  If not for the promise of Heaven, we wouldn’t lift a hand to help anyone.
In reality, none of us going to Heaven would DARE approach God’s Throne in our own righteousness. He only accepts the Righteousness of Christ, which we have become partakers of through His Grace. My righteousness would get me a hot seat in hell right next to the graffiti artist who thinks he was doing a good deed by writing on a wall.

An intelligent person knows that the fear (respect/love) of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom.
I know the little darlings can’t help it-we exist in a culture which is running away from God at warp speed.
But God will do as He Wills, and He is still rescuing souls from hell every day. I’m guessing that many people around the world have accepted Christ in the time it took you to read this sentence.
I know by faith that not one person whom God wants to be with Him in Heaven will be missing.
Conversely, not one person destined for hell will be among the saints praising God throughout Eternity.
Smart like a lamb, buddy.

It's On The 'Nets...It Must Be True!

So it's three in the morning, and I just woke up and did some stuff. I shut down right before midnight, and I didn't hear a peep from the outside world-this is my first New Year living in a 'town' since 1994; I expected the celebratory noises to impinge, but they din't.
According to a redditor, this picture is the 'very first dawn of the new year' from some place in New Zealand.

Okayfine. I'm glad we finally get to flip the calendar. May God Bless you in this New Year and eternally.