Merry Christmas!

Well, I've been pitifully neglectful of this dear blog, but never fear, I am here! ... just long enough to post and run away again. ;o)

Anyway...

This is one of my favorite times of year - the house is cluttered with wrapping paper, lights are... strewn, the mantle and various free spaces are occupied with a wide assortment of mangers, snowmen, and other Christmasy knick-knacks. In my CD player are Christmas CD's, and renditions of Christmas songs ranging from horrible to magnificent are being played by nearly every radio station. Even the mall is festooned in green, red, silver, and gold.

Everyone is busy shopping, kids are ticking off the days til they can tear open the wrapping paper to see what secrets it holds, and in spite of the less than ideal economy there is still Christmas. That is the wonder of this holiday - even though you may not be able to give the big expensive gifts you wanted to, even though you might not get that gift you've been eyeing for months now, it hardly matters. The point of Christmas is to celebrate the birth of a King. Sure, it's fun to get presents, give presents, and spread cheer but it is hardly the point.

Christmas is a global thanksgiving. The pagans and the redeemed alike get together with family and friends and whether they say it or not, they show they are thankful for the people that are around them and the blessings they've received. The redeemed has the added bonus of being thankful for Jesus' birth in that smelly, dirty manger 2,000 years ago.

It is easy, I confess, to get wrapped up (pun intended) in the gift exchanges, killer sales, and shiny objects which catch our eye; but let us not forget this year the reason it's called CHRISTmas.

You asked for it.

Well, we get our vote for toasters. Apparently the American people have lost their minds. We have voted in Obama, we have voted in a democratic house and senate. But hey, it looks like gay marriage might be banned in a few states.

I'm still trying to make heads and tails of this election, but I can't. It just doesn't add up. I suppose I overestimated the human American intellect.

Well folks, if you voted for this loser (or didn't vote at all) then you've gotten what you deserve. If this country becomes socialistic and we all go to the poor house remember - you're the dolts that asked for it. If your rights and liberties are taken away don't cry to me. You asked for it.

If we're so stupid to vote in Obama (who is only questionably a natural born American citizen, btw) then we've gotten precisely what we deserve.

Glad I'm just an ambassador here, or I'd be getting worried about now!

Obama-Biden 2008! A Vote for Toasters!

This is part of a transcript I read on rushlimbaugh.com.

RUSH: This next is unreal. Joe Biden was on the Today show talking to the hostette there, Meredith Vieira, who asked him, "What specifically will your tax plan do to boost the economy?"

BIDEN: Our tax plan would take that tax cut of another $130 billion that John wants to give to people making over $250,000 next year, not let it go forward and give it to the middle class, the very people who desperately need it to stay in their homes, to buy food, to take care of the gas to fill up their tank, to be able to go out and buy a toaster, to unemployed people.

RUSH: To go out and buy a toaster! Joe Biden, Obama will give you a toaster! Along with a rice cooker left over from the supply in Cuba that Fidel Castro failed to give away to all of his people. Obama is going to give you a toaster.

Yup! My unemployed dad is in dire need of going out and buying a toaster! Doesn't need health insurance, groceries, or money to pay the bills, but a toaster.

Obama-Biden 2008 - Our Hope For America.

I Will Not Forget

Seven years ago today the World Trade Towers were hit by two airplanes that had been hijacked by Islamic terrorists. Life in the United States changed that day in ways we have so quickly adjusted to that we have forgotten them.

I don't know about you, but the minute I got home from school I sat down and asked questions til I figured out precisely what happened, and then I watched as the news kept replaying those hours that changed our lives.

Since that fateful day I have been to New York City and I have stared into the gaping whole that was the Trade Towers. After seeing that colossal hole I cannot forget what happened. The mere size of it was amazing! Since that trip I have not been able to get out of my head the pictures and the reality of what happened, of what directly effected tens if not hundreds of thousands of people in a few short minutes.

Since that day I have known soldiers who have headed off to war. I have watched the faces of sons, husbands, daughters, and wives of people near me, flicker across my television. These are people like you and me that will NEVER come home.

I have listened and seen the world turn since that day and I have seen many people forget what happened and ignore it.

Well, I will not forget. I cannot forget. The images are burned into my memory clearly, deeply, vibrantly. My heart still aches when I think of the lives lost, my patriotism swells when I think of the soldiers who are fighting to keep it from happening again.

Heroes were made that day, and many more have been made since. I thank them, each and every one of them. You have my prayers, my thoughts, and my thanks.

I have not forgotten and I will not forget. I WILL REMEMBER.

When God Doesn't Answer

This was my great summer muse.

Where is God? Why isn’t He doing something about this? Why isn’t He keeping this from happening? ARE YOU THERE GOD? ARE YOU EVEN PAYING ATTENTION? Because it sure doesn’t seem like it…

Most of us have asked some variety of these questions at least once. I know I certainly have. Now I can talk myself back through my theology and remind myself that God is there. He’s always there. However, I had not quite settled on why He just stood by seemingly helpless or disinterested.

Why doesn’t He keep So-and-so from doing that hurtful thing?

Question: Why doesn’t God stop you from doing _______? Why doesn’t He intervene when you try to do _______?

Answer: Because He has given us free will and He loves us so much that He will not force us to do anything. He loves us and wants us to obey Him because we love Him. Not because He made us.

I know this, but I’m not a big mercy shower. I desire justice! Or at least thwarting of plans. It has frustrated me for years that He so seldom seems to interfere. It took me a while, but I suddenly realized one day that God sometimes does something more cruel than interfere or thwart. Sometimes He lets our plans work themselves out. Do you know what happens when our plans work themselves out? We end up in a very sticky, nasty, muddy, knotted tangle. We know very little. Our plans only work in a small, thoroughly controlled by us environment if we’re lucky. By letting our plans work themselves out in the very unpredictable world, God is pretty much just letting us set ourselves up for failure. Our plans end in failure. The end.

Fortunately for us, God is not the sort to look down His nose at us and say, “Ha! You silly people! Serves you right!” and then walks away. Instead, He untangles the mess, pulls the pieces of debris from our hair and clothes, cleans us up, and sets us back where we are to be.

If He does that for you and me, then He is allowing the same to happen to So-and-so who is doing such-and-such. If that gives you vindictive peace of mind, have fun with that thought, but that is missing a lot of points as well as the mark of this whole thing.

I stand before you as one who has hurt and who has been hurt. I write to you as one who is hurting, who is watching people I love and care for being hurt. It breaks my heart! I cannot even describe to you how it breaks my heart. I don’t understand what purpose God has in allowing this to go on. I understand and know very little about most things, but I am very certain on this: God doesn’t always stop people from doing bad things. It pains Him to see His creations hurting each other, but He loves us enough to not stop us, to not usurp our free will. I know in my heart that no matter what bad thing happens, God WILL work it for good. Even if it’s a good we don’t understand or don’t comprehend as yet. We will one day.

I cried til I nearly drowned in my tears, I poured out my heart to God until there was nothing left to pour. I struggled, I wrestled, I ran screaming and sobbing through the swirling mists of my sorrows and questions til I found myself lying in a cold, dreary, empty place… then I awoke and found myself in the warm arms of my Savior. He had heard my cries, he had dried my tears, and told me “Peace child, you do not understand.”