10 Steps to Strength

To the rest of the world, America means "strength."





Maybe that is why we are hated by so many. Maybe it is our dominating economy. Maybe it is our tremendous military forces. Maybe it is the fact that an American living at the "poverty" level (per American economic standards) is wealthier than 95% of the world. Maybe it is the fact that we are seen as a Christian nation, and no other nation in the world has that status. Maybe it is our freedom, our ability to succeed, our ability to continue to overcome, dominate, and march forward with the strongest republic the world has ever seen. We have a relatively short history, and we had a very shaky beginning, but by God's grace, we have had one tremendous ride to 2008.




However, we could be stronger, and in reality, we need to be stronger. Liberalism is gaining ground day by day, and all that is needed to let liberalism succeed is for conservatism to do nothing. Truly liberal and conservative followers are moving away from each other at an alarming rate. Some Americans still try to pretend that they remain in the middle, but when pressed to reveal true convictions, few can find a home in the median. The things that threaten to divide America into a weakened state are, in a sense, revealed by comparison with the following list.




So, rather than point what makes us weaker, this list takes the positive tone and points towards those things that can, could, and should make us stronger. Here are 10 steps to strengthen America.





10. One Language: 25 years ago, no one would have ever thought of even suggesting that we recognize any other language here than English. But back in the early 90's, there were some rumblings even in the senate to consider making Spanish the recognized language (primary) in states like New Mexico and Arizona. It never came close to passing, but just that it was talked about caused a tremendous stir. People were infuriated and rightly so.




English is a world language. Any country that wants to compete in the world market learns English. Candidate Obama recently suggested that Americans are silly not to learn Spanish. He is dead wrong. Latinos should be totally unable to do anything without a fluent command of English. America is truly a huge mixture of people groups, but we are foolish to think that one primary, overarching language is anything but a strength for us. Our diversity is only a strength if we find universal ways to unite. May our congress and the white house take a hard stand upon this issue and quit pandering to ethnic groups who whine about the language. English is THE official language, and that should never change. Pandering to small ethnic groups who want to remake America in their image is now, and will always be, a mistake.





9. Secure Borders: Illegal immigration is a huge problem. Conservative estimates indicate that we may have as many as 15 million illegal immigrants in the U.S., with the majority coming from Mexico. Democrats see these illegals as their constituents, so they want to turn a blind eye. Latinos who are citizens don't want their ethnic group "picked on" and therefore thing rules and laws are unfair. The problem is, we have laws for a reason, and there is no reason to ignore them. Actually, ignoring standing laws of this magnitude is criminal in and of itself. If Mexico is so terrible that millions want to flee, then that is where the focus should be. America is not strengthened by having uneducated, often criminally inclined, desperate illegal aliens coming into our system. We were never intended to be a catch-all for the lowest forms of humanity. That was Australia's job, and it still shows today. America was founded by God fearing, hard working, determined Europeans who had at their core a strong work ethic, imagination, innovation, and determination. Today, people from all over the world are working hard to get into America without going through the proper, insanely simple, immigration structure presently in place.





We need to enforce the immigration laws we already have, and take a hard stance against those who pander to the illegals for reasons that make no sense. There will always be people in worse conditions. America will continue to be a promised land to those in third world countries. But instead of opening the drain and letting the worlds slag just rush in, we might consider improving our border situation and then help other countries develop. Wait......that makes sense. And finally, a question arises, 'how are we made weaker by structuring how immigrants enter the United States?'




8. Put Teeth back into our Penal System: In our limp wristed society, where everyone is a victim and no one is every truly wrong (except for those who uphold morals), criminals who commit heinous crimes just expect their jail sentence to be 1/3 of whatever is passed down. People who beat a dog get 10 years with no probation, but a rapist gets 3 years, and serves only 2. The liberal wags on the networks often proclaim that our prisons are overcrowded, and yet, with the rapid turn over in our penal system, it's hard to conceive of any prison having a problem with rooms. What's more, over half of all jail cells only house one prisoner, when bunk beds would double our available prisoner capacity. America is not strengthened by having first time or habitual criminals set free with partial sentences. Building new prisons would be a financially feasible endeavor if we took the entitlements paid out to the House and Senate and re-routed them to new prison construction. Of course, in reality, building new prisons is less of a financial burden than supporting research for the effect of blueberries on the environment.




It is time that Americans treated those who have disdain for the law and for other humans with severity and determination. Liberal judges need to be chastised and removed. Perps are given more consideration than the victims. We need tort reform, and we need citizens writing their representatives endlessly, pressuring them to put pressure upon lawyers and judges who favor the criminal more than the victim. And we need a citizenry that eschews the desire to file suits at the drop of a hat. Punish law breakers, accept some unfairness in this world, and quit trying to get rich at every opportunity.




America can only become stronger when she enforces her laws as they are written, which serves as a deterrent to criminals, but punishes properly those who will not be deterred. And if we need more prisons, we can always remove from congress their self-gifted entitlements of retirement and build dozens of large prisons all over the country.




7. Remove all government funding from useless or highly biased entities: Planned parenthood is now clearly seen as a racially biased abortion machine that receives over $300 MILLION in government grants. Why? What idiot felt this was a good idea? Abortion is used only as a form of birth control for women too lazy or stupid to stop by one of thousands of free clinics all over the nation and get free birth control pills.




NPR, National Public Radio, holds more fund raiser specials than any other media outlet, and yet, they too receive millions in subsidies from tax payers. Following the "do nothing and liberalism takes over" model, NPR quickly became one of the loudest sirens for all liberal causes early in its broadcast life. Why would the US government fund a station that posits only one side, determined to push the cause of the godless left? It makes no sense at all, and again, every conservative citizen should hound their representatives endlessly until NPR is forced to sustain itself by revenues from advertisers, just like every other radio station. Of course, liberals know that such a move would tank this liberal cesspool, as all liberal radio programs do dismally in the market polls. And why no public outcry when NPR holds 3 or 4 major fund raising campaigns a year, and yet have all their bills paid by the US government?




The NEA, National Teachers Association, another liberal stronghold of tremendous power, receives tens of millions in tax dollars yearly, and does nothing but remove God from all texts, advocates condom distribution, teaches evolution as fact, and rewrites history to paint all the founding fathers as deist kooks who raped this country away from the native Indians, blacks, Hispanics, Canadians, the French, and maybe the ancient Egyptians. OK, fine, let the NEA continue on with trampling all things conservative and yelling about lack of funds (we presently spend upwards of $10,000 per child per year on Education), but let that organization do so without a dime from you and me. The NEA should become nothing more than a glorified PTA that tries to influence the person who should most influence education in this country, the President appointed Secretary of Education. Bring back Bill Bennett!




The National Endowment for the Arts is a dirty joke. If some college drop out wants to paint pictures of Christ covered in urine, let him do so on a street corner with a $8 Wal Mart canvas he bought with his own money mowing lawns, but never with money you and I gave to Uncle Sam. If anyone in this wealthy country aspires to be an artist, let them get a job, buy some paint and a brush, and have at it. Good luck. What we really need in this country is a bunch of people painting representations of what we can all clearly see with our own eyes. Just think what the millions spent on this lewd fest could do if applied towards rebuilding our infrastructure. Maybe paint a few bridges, if nothing else.




6. Embrace the Fuel of Free Enterprise: ALL industrialized nations, states, and governments run on oil. No way around it. Fossil fuels are what powers the world as we know it, and it's about time we all refused to listen to the left fringe who bark on and on about how evil man and his oil is. God gave us petroleum through events long before our time, and using this resource effectively and responsibly is nothing more than good sense. So let the fine Hollywood dwellers with their highly moral lives rage on about the supposed evils of oil, and let the rest of us embrace the fuel of yesterday, today, and tomorrow with appreciation and thankfulness.




Electric cars run on coal. Wait, they also run on hydroelectric power and nuclear power. No way around that fact either. There is no free ride! God created this world to be highly resilient and renewable, so any impact we are having today can be replenished tomorrow. So all this scrambling around to look "green" by major corporations is nothing more than publicity stunts, and they know it. Our society runs on oil, will continue to run on oil, and there is no stopping it. Every educated citizen should stop apologizing for this fact.




Today, America needs more refineries and off-shore drilling increased. We import oil from Canada, South American countries, and from the middle east, but we have the stores and can have the capacity to be self sufficient for centuries, if we chose to do so. Such a move would result in all these other oil suppliers being pressured, due to decreased profits, to begin begging us for our business. Maybe this will never happen, but it is a possibility. And to those who frown upon people who are in the oil business, all they need to have said to them is: Would their "hero's" be happy with a 10% profit margin? Of course not. Also, are they willing to give up everything in their life that is associated with oil?




Practically every facet of our lives is influenced by oil, from clothing, to transportation, to building materials, to medications. Petroleum is essential to modern life, and that fact is not changing any time soon. Embrace it, and quit hugging trees. They can always grow more.




5. Set up Pillars of Culture: How can a nation comprised of so many various people groups and cultures possibly think of establishing universal cultural norms? Easy! You just begin at the beginning.







America was established and built by people of European descent who valued hard work, religious liberty, and personal responsibility. It will never be appropriate for any individual or group to try to change that historical fact. Actually, in homes and schools, it has become en vogue to "embrace" other cultures to the extent that some Americans (liberals, to be exact) have fallen prey to the "feel guilty about our dominant culture" theory. This is absurd, especially in America.







People from all over the world take great risks to come here, just to enjoy the uniquely American culture of wealth, opportunity, and freedom. Those same ideals drove the early pilgrims to leave England and embark upon some leaky old vessels to travel to an unknown and untamed land in search of a better life. Those early settlers were not bad people with bad intentions -- rather, they were brave, very common people who risked their lives for religious liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Mind you, they knew that only after years of hard work, trials, and death, would they be able to just begin to realize a small part of their dream for those goals.







The American culture has not changed. It always has been, and must continue to be, defined by sacrifice, hard work, personal responsibility, and religious liberty. Our culture is further defined by a non-invasive government that is held in check through the auspices of a republic format that fears and respects the will of the people. American culture values the family, a strong work ethic, individuality, and innovation. American culture values decency and morality, using the Bible and common sense to easily define those terms. American culture was not defined by deism, (even though a few founding fathers were deists), but by orthodox Christian principals. Many of the signers of the Declaration of Independence lost their lives standing upon those Christian principals, so why would we ever try to push them aside?







It is now, and always has been, time for Americans to stop apologizing to the few godless, liberal whiners who want to reinvent American in their caustic and immoral minds. How can a country full of God fearing, hard working, responsible, and conservative people ever make America weaker? Let the sewer dwellers of America rant and rave, but never let them have anything more than a deaf ear among those who stand by the principals of those early settlers and framers of our constitution, that in turn stands as pillars of our great society and culture.







4. In God We Trust: As referenced in #5, early settlers were not deists and atheists, as some historians of left leanings would have some believe. Orthodox Christianity was by far the predominant faith among those who are responsible for making the American experiment work. Sure, there were some who were deists, and a few atheists, among puritans, Anglicans, and Baptists, but regardless of denomination, Christianity was obviously instrumental in the lives, laws, and liberties this country was set up to provide and protect. A recent poll taken by a group that studies religious affiliations in America indicated that fully 75% of Americans consider themselves either Christians, or associated with the Christian faith. In stark contrast, less than 1% were affiliated with the Islamic faith, along with Buddhists and followers of Hinduism. Percentages can seem cold, but they do not terribly mislead, especially when the numbers are this lop-sided. Let no one say that America is not a "Christian nation," because, in a academic sense, we certainly are.







Early settlers came to America in large part to escape the tyranny of a state sponsored church, so it makes no sense at all for Americans to push for the same here, as if that could even happen! While 75% of our citizens have some tie with Christianity, there never has been, and never will be, a drive to force all citizens to accept orthodox Christianity. Now, when it comes to referencing that Christianity in the public arena, some who very much want to erase any idea of God from their lives will work hard to create a fuss and lead the weak minded to reconsider how God is to be honored and recognized in our society. Forever shame on those who have given ear to the minuscule and turned away from the masses. Such is not leadership in any sense.







We ARE a Christian nation, founded on Christian principals, and predominately populated with a citizenry that avows Christianity. That is fact, and there is no reason under Heaven to ever ignore it. China has Buddhism, India has Hinduism, the Middle East has Islam, and America has Christianity. But some say, "America has all of those other religions represented too, so we cannot accept any one religious leaning anymore." Response? Please refer to the facts, which state that those other religions, nation-wide, are nothing more than a few grains of sand in the sand box. .06%? 0.8? Is that really worth mentioning? Hardly.







Quit apologizing, and quit ignoring the facts. We trust in God because He IS, and there is no other. He has blessed this nation, and we are stronger for His undeserved blessings. We trust in God in part because some very brave men and women also trusted in Him, risking more than any current American has so that we could have this great nation to live in. We trust in God because that is OUR CULTURE. No apology, and no explanation needed. It's fact. Deal with it.







3. Affirming Life: We hear a lot about abortions in this country, but that is only because the battle between those who oppose abortion, and those who support it, are still very much at war with each other's views. In so many other countries, such as France, Belgium, and Australia, for instance, abortion is not a big issue in public circles. Why? Because so few countries value life like we do in the U.S. Americans who do not travel may have no idea how much liberalism has affected other countries, to the point that abortion and illegal drug use are non-issues, so accepted as they are. In America, we still hold on to a "culture of life," but that grip seems to be slipping more all the time.





Hollywood, along with some of the larger cities on both coasts, has long ago given over to a culture of death, and the glorification thereof. Ironic isn't it, that so many liberal extremist that live in the entertainment industry play in movies and TV shows that glorify the gun, and killing, and violence, when off screen, these same limp wrists abhor firearms. OK, fine, so a lot of these left wing folks have wrists so limp they couldn't hold a gun, which is humor in itself, but their hypocrisy is thick and heavy. If someone doesn't get killed, they say, no one will watch. The overarching mantra in the news media is, "if it bleeds or burns, it runs." The pin heads that bring you the evening "news" are nothing more than cheap, under-rated acting dropouts who peddle to the lowest common denominator in humanity. They think that if they offer intelligent, unbiased coverage of things that really matter, their ratings may go down. The reasoning? They reckon that if a story is appealing to them, it will be appealing to higher life forms. So, from major motion picture industries to the local news station, what you get is a steady stream of life-demeaning tripe meant to entertain, not inform or change.





So we have our problems, and they once again mostly stem from those who live the furtherest from the American ideal, but regardless of those facists few, we still hold to a strong understanding of the sanctity of life in these United States. What other country sends more aid to starving and suffering individuals all over the world? Who else has more safety devices and limitations designed to prevent everything from death to a stubbed toe? Where else can you find more hospitals, churches, and schools per capita? Only in America. We train, educate, prepare, volunteer, and give more than we realize just to preserve life. We consider someone dying before 65 a tragedy, and this is proper. We have worked hard, sacrificed much, and have continually placed such a high value upon life, that our mortality rate is lower than almost any other country with similar population concentrations and industralization standards. Of this, we should be proud.





Abortion is murder, and a plight in our Christian culture. The liberal media wants everyone to accept the notion that the battle is over, but it is not. Some states, like North Dakota, have adopted laws that require abortionists to inform the would be mother that the life they are about to terminate is viable, able to sustain life outside the womb, and wholly unique apart from the mother. This unhearalded law has forced some planned parenthood clinics to close their doors, because they know that if they have to divulge this truth, it will greatly diminish their "profits." Imagine that -- the truth contributing to life. What a concept.





America cannot become weaker as affirming the sanctity of life becomes stronger. Life is precious because it is a gift from God, and therefore human life is to be valued and protected unlike anything else. When we as a nation honor God by valuing each other, we can only reap stronger relationships and concrete unity. It's a no brainer. May we one day eschew the glorification of death not only in our entertainment choices, but in our life choices as well.





2. Death to Taxes: It is historical fact that a reason the colonies entered into a revolutionary war with England was because a 1/2 of 1% tax was levied upon exported goods from the colonies bound for England and beyond. Those early merchants and leaders considered this tax totally unreasonable and exploitive, and refused to pay it. Boston Tea party, anyone?



We've come a long way from a 1/2% export tax. Today, the wealthiest 1% of Americans pay well over 25% of the total tax revenues due to the government, and those same folks are in a bracket where they pay 50% of their income in tax. Heck, even Americans earning a median income of only $40k can expect to pay somewhere in the vicinity of 40% or more in total tax revenues, when considering state, local, and federal taxes. It's a known horror story that we as Americans pay taxes upon income, then pay more taxes upon that same money when it is invested, withdrawn, and spent again. We are taxed, taxed again, and taxed some more, just for good measure.



America is not made stronger with more taxes. High taxes equals high levels of fraud, deceit, and mismanagement from the governing bodies that receive those tax dollars. Congress routinely votes themselves a pay raise, all the while knowing that their entitlements after they leave office will more than pay all their normal bills. We give Planned Parenthood over $30,000,000 annually to kill unwanted babies. It's the tip of an iceberg, and our infrastructure is a rotting mess.



Some people (mostly liberals) say that America can never return to her simple roots of small government, low taxes, and individual responsibility. Those nay sayers are dead wrong, and they don't want their cookie jar taken away. To drastically cut individual taxation, the government would have to shrink some, but mostly, the pork-barrel spending would have to cease. National education would have to have many aspects privatized. A lot of deregulation would need to take place. Government officials would have to start driving their own cars and paying for their own gas from their paycheck. Welfare and food stamps and other wasteful and needless programs would have to be trimmed drastically. In short, citizens would need to return to a lifestyle where you pull your own weight, pay your own bills, and stand responsible for your own choices.



Americans need to take up the anti-tax mantra and beat that drum until it bleeds. It is a shame that so many accept taxes along with death as an ineviatable occurance. Mayors, senators, and congressional pundits must hear from an angry population that refuses to pay more taxes, and expects a reduction of the same. A society that accepts high taxation is a society that is ripe for a socialists regime. America cannot be America and allow any socialist roots to grow.



1. Call a spade a spade: Coined from the playing card industry, this simple phrase means to simply state what is, and what is not, without a lot of spin and ineuendo. In order to avoid the small discussion upon "political correctness", the broader scope here is that as American society apparently progresses and becomes ever more diverse, there is an even greater need to unite behind the plain truth in all aspects of life. Some examples of this idea are offered here:

• Murder is murder, not an act of passion or insanity. Taking a life is one of lifes highest crimes and should be punished severely. Doesn't matter if the murderer is old or young, sober or drunk, "poor" or "rich," scary or calm - it's murder, plain and simple. America leads the world in murders per capita, and one of the reasons why is because we devalue life more every day and punish practically no one appropriately.
• Stealing is stealing, whether it is a few dollars at a store or a million from a bank, it is wrong.
• While we're at it, wrong is wrong. We need, as a nation, to jettison this idea of moral relativity. Victims are those who suffer at the hands of perpertrators. The perps are not victims. Ever. While it may be sad to see a man or woman struggle with poverty (for whatever reason), it is never an excuse to commit a crime. There are no starving or impoverished people in America to speak of. We all have it very good here in the US. Quit making excuses for law breakers.
• Racism is a problem in ALL people groups. Anyone who thinks that all white people have always hated all black people is out of their gourd. In fact, black racism towards whites has all but consumed the black race in America, and is getting worse, not better. While most whites today rarely think about racial issues on a day to day basis, racists discussions among black Americans is highly prevailant. Racism is all but the leading cause of most wars, conflicts, and disorder in the world. It is not overcome easily, but it can be subdued. If America continues to try to be all inclusive and all accommodating, it will not gain strength, but lose it, due to increasing racial divides brought on by our splintered culture. Hence the need for one language, one set of cultural pillars, and one purpose to rightly balance individual freedoms and responsibility.
• Congress is a bloated and obscene shadow of it's former self. Rather than represent their region, congressmen now debate frivilous legislation and seek underhanded means to enrichen themselves and further their political career. There is too much power, and too little accountability.
• We are a republic, not a democracy. There, it's been said.
• Welfare was never a good idea, and it's gotten worse. It needs to be scrapped totally, with some simple, small substitute put in place that has low limits and limited funds.
• Gasoline will be king for another century. AlGore is a misguided idiot.
• Traditional families are the only "glue" that will hold our society together. Single parent homes are at times unavoidable, but no substitute for a Mom and Dad, and kids, as a single unit.
• We need to lose our fascination with celebrity and entertainment. We are not stronger when we exalt pin-headed doofuses who curse God and live for temporary fame and fortune. Americans need to turn off the TV, the computer, the cell phones, and ear phones and get back to interacting with fellow humans, and having quiet time.
• No child or teenager "needs" a cell phone. It's ridiculous. And childish. And bad, spineless parenting. They have mouths, let them talk. Disconnect.
• Homosexuality is perverse, and deserves to be seen that way. Fully 97%+ of all people are NOT homosexual, and there is no reason (scientific or otherwise) to believe that it is inherited. The heterosexual community has every reason to see homosexuality as disgusting and offensive. It cannot lead to life, it is rife with promiscuity on both sides, and those that practice it are not well adjusted, "normal" people. Instead, alcoholism and suicide rates among the homosexual community is 3 times those in the hetero community. A homosexual woman is 20 times more likely to suffer assault and battery from another homosexual woman, than a heterosexual woman is to be beaten by her husband or boyfriend. Look up the stats. Quit apologizing for being offended.
• Hard work and responsibility should always be rewarded. We should give parades and parties to those who put others first, while doing their personal best. Exalting those who excel in areas that benefit no one but themselves is a waste of time.
• The elderly should be respected. Age is not a curse, but a blessing. The biggest idiots in the world are those the current American society deems "the young and beautiful" among us. We can only gain strength through the insights and lessons learned by our elderly population. God promises blessings to anyone who respects their parents (elders). Disrespecting the elderly is stupid and wrong.
• Children should be protected. Amazing that even today, a child molester is all but dead if put into prison with the general population. Sex offenders, especially those who molest children, should be considered one short rung lower than murderers, and dealt with appropriately. Communities should look after their children. Churches should place a high priority upon the ministry to children. God has said in His word that true religion is to look after widows and orphans. 'Nuff said.
• In order to be an American, you have to know, accept, and embrace the founding principals and tenets of this great nation. Anything less, and you are not assimilated. We have too many people trying to remake America in their image. It's not for sale. If an African does not like America's ways, move back to Africa. If a Japanese person finds America offensive and not in keeping with their world view, move back to Japan. If liberals think that responsibility and personal freedom cannot be kept in check, they need to check out. There is no reason to apologize for America's past, present, or future. We are what we are, and we have every reason to be proud. While some illogical whiners are trying take a hard left, the rest of us have every reason to stay aimed straight ahead, directly in line with our past.

May God continue to bless this greatest nation on His earth.

Just Suppose

The doctor said, "I'm sorry to tell you that you only have ________ time to live."

The scary thing is, in reality, countless people have heard those very words, and have had to process and absorb that information. The same sentence has been used countless times to try to prompt people to consider what they would do, given that information. The idea is to make people think about what is important, apparently.

Just suppose that the doctor (or whomever) has come to you and said, "you have 35 (or insert any number greater than 20, for instance) years to live." How is that accepted differently? Where is the peril? Where are the tears? Where are the desperate farewell speeches?

An initial question here is.....at what point do humanoids begin to consider the direction of the life they've been given? When do we start keeping score, and consider what is of real value? Maybe that answer changes radically from culture to culture, and maybe not. Either way, what elements are considered, and how is the "score" kept?

There is a time in everyone's life when they sit down and calculate the year they are likely to die. For instance, a young father of 28 living in 2008 would think to himself, "If I live to the average age of 80, then I will likely die around the year 2060." Sounds like a long way off, but it really isn't. Such calculations increase in instances the older one gets, but the point is, it helps to put a fine point on the notion that life, in human form, is ending for each person. Absorb that, and what follows is the inevitable assessment of the direction and value of said life.

Rather than talking about the "what if" scenario prefaced by "you only have (a short) time to live, maybe we all should look at the life we've been given and consider what we will do in it, given we will live a long and relatively healthy life. Maybe that kind of introspection is far more profitable to us in every day life.

Life is a gift from God. We did nothing to earn it, and we have no control over it. Eternal life is every bit as much a gift, and is made possible only through the work of Christ. It is from this perspective that we consider such things today, and everyday. Given this truth, and given that the whole of the Bible (a revelation of the nature and character of God) points towards the main point of our human existence being fully realized in bringing honor and glory to God, we must consider our lives, and the remainder thereof, in this context.

So, what will you do with your remaining years?

Such a question, left in just that state, is already framed in error. First of all, to say "my life" is to assume far too much. We don't own this life, regardless of what those sage crooners of the highly elitist group Bon Jovi say in their song, "It's my life." This implies an ownership that does not exist. God did not create humankind to be free to do as we will, answerable to Him only in extreme circumstances. All of humanity will save themselves a lot of grief and answer virtually every question when they all face the fact that we all were created by God, FOR God, to be worshippers of God both here, and in all eternity.

Now, persuading all of humanity of this fact will take some doing, and to the point, it will only happen after God has dismantled this earth and time, and at the great judgment, He has declared that "every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess, that Jesus is Lord." Until that time, those who believe in Christ will be the only humans who stand a chance of finding the ultimate purpose of life.

Let's say that you are a person of 40 years of age. Half of your life is over -- already been lived. It's been a quick ride, full of ups and downs, mistakes and cherished memories. But now you are looking forward, and attempting to assess what lies ahead, and how you will face it all. Do I pay more attention to earning all I can while I can? Do I attempt to make big changes in my diet, my looks, my career, my goals? Do I continue on this path, or make a move to another one? Just like with children, the questions never end.

Take a deep breath and put things in perspective. The highest purpose of mankind is to bring honor and praise to God. The highest goal could easily be to get into the proper position with God, meaning, He is the Master, and you are the servant. He is the King, and you are the subject. As such, God is to be worshipped by His children, whom He has rescued from both their sin and His righteous anger against them, both now, and forever.

Bringing glory to God. Sounds kind of nebulous and undefined, doesn't it? Perhaps a more easily understood definition that has real handles on it is to say, "being available to God's will and subject to His good pleasure" is the goal of this life. While in human form, God uses His followers in the work that He is always doing, even while they are seeking to honor Him in daily worship. When this life and world is over, we will have all of eternity to offer Him sinless praise and worship, when His work is done and we're all home with Him. But for now, He is still about the business of bringing His "flock" into His fold, even as He steers this world towards it's ultimate end and purpose.

So back to the point: you have X number of years to live, which could be quite a while, or maybe not. What to do? Where to put the emphasis? What will count, and matter? What is right?

Purpose in life is not found in bank accounts or accomplishments. Purpose in life is found in being in right standing (position) with God, who is in control of all things. Where to live, what to do, where to put the emphasis and other questions are secondary at best when we realize that our greatest purpose is to bring honor and glory to God, as worshippers of His name. In most cases, we bring that honor to Him by being obedient servants, as we seek His glory, and not our own.

Many Christians have a problem wrapping their minds around the fact that Heaven will be an eternal concert of praise towards God. Why? Because we all are dreadfully ego-centric, and it cuts against the grain for us to dispense with the idea that anything in Heaven is not geared towards US. Teachers in churches ask children all the time, "what do you want to do in Heaven?" Some say they want to run and play, others want to fly. Adults often say they want to see departed loved ones, or to finally be at rest, or whole, or something along those lines. Few, if any, respond by saying, "I want to do nothing but sing in an eternal chorus of praise to God almighty."

We were not put on this earth to do "the work of the Lord." The Lord does His own work, and no work stands unless His hand is set to it. God never, ever, puts us "in charge" of anything. What we will be in eternity, we are here on earth -- worshipping servants of the Most High God.

So, teach, advertise, drive a truck, lead a business, crunch numbers.....it doesn't matter. That is not what this life is about. Those are just ways to put food in your mouth and clothes on your back.
Stay where you are, or relocate, live overseas, or a little of both......our position with God does not change.
Make a lot of money, or very little, it makes no difference. None of this has much to do with our main purpose.

With the time we have left on this earth, no better goal could be set than to find ourselves, everyday, in a proper position with God, worshipping Him through praise, acts of obedience, and being available to His good pleasure in this life He has given us.

Katrina Meets New Orleans, Part Two

How do "average" Americans stay afloat financially in 2008?

Well, the "average American" could do some history research and see how average Americans of the last century remained financially stable during the great depression, or during WWII, or during the advent of the industrial revolution of the early 1900's, or even during the revolutionary war.

Now, before our young-ish, know-it-all computer savvy, pencil-necked, spend-it-all current generation declares that the past is the past, and we must look forward, they may want to unplug, slow down, and take a look at the huge mess that they have created.

Just about the time WWII was winding down, the boomer generation was cranking up. The "boomer" generation was raised in a very different way and in a very different America than their builder parents were. Prosperity reigned. Farmers became industrialists. Businesses expanded, suburbs grew. Air travel suplanted rails and boats, and communication became global with improved phone and satellite technology. Kids no longer had chores to do. They began getting allowances just for showing up. College became something average people aspired to, and was paid for via the "loving parents" who wanted their children to have what they didn't have. One can only speculate that the builder generation felt that hard work, personal responsibility, and delayed pleasure were undesirable traits to have, so they made sure that their boomer babies were given free money, absence of guilt, and whatever their toady little hearts wanted right then, and right there. No delays, no penalities, no refusals.

Welcome to 2008.

America has the greatest, strongest, most reliable, most resilient economy in the world. The US of A sets the standard for all economic markets. Even today, when liberals are touting that our economy is at an all time low, and people are suffering and scraping by, we as a nation of people are solidly in the top 3% of the wealthiest people in the entire world (an annual income of $31,000 puts on in that top 3%). The DOW, an economic indicator, hovered below the 10,000 bench mark for decades, and now routinely remains in the 11,800 - 13,000 field, with minor blips here and there. This happened during the Bush administration, by the way. Go Republicans! Anyway, our economy is strong, vibrant, and able to handle far more than the doomsdayers want to politicize. So, what is this hub-bub about people starving, losing jobs, and hanging on by a thread? Go back to "no delays, no penalities, no refusals."

What has happend in the past 2 years has been coming for a long time. Call it "payday" for the idiotic financial practices of the boomer generation. Payday? Oh yes, dear reader, it is payday for the paycheck to paycheck generation who cannot fathom the notion of waiting, paying cash, and eschewing credit. Perish the thought!

Families headed by yuppy-ish, I-get-what-I-want parents have been long on stretching themselves to the furtherest extent, and short on practicing financial responsibility for a long time. What these spend today, pay (maybe) tomorrow people have done is created a situation for themselves where any sudden increase in any staple item would fell their financial house.
Translation? When one is stretched to the financial limit, and beyond, all it takes is a $1 increase in the price of gas to send the house of cards to the ground.

As for the title of this entry, when the hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, the dim of mind wandered around in their immense ignorance saying, "how could this have happened?" It happened because a filthy city that was fully 6 feet under sea level, boardered by the Mississippi river, a huge lake to the north, and the gulf of Mexico to the south, was hit by a category 5 hurricane, but not without a good 5 days of prior warning. The ONLY thing that has always kept The Big Easy (what a name!) from becoming a huge pond are a handful of man-made, diesel pumps that bail out the ever-present water. How could it have happened, indeed. And now, people all over this great nation are crying, "how can this be happening?" Cry on, boomer babies, and spend away like it grows on trees.

People are losing their homes. People are losing their second homes, their third homes, their 3,000 square foot homes in elite neighborhoods that they could never afford, their homes that they intended to "turn over" for an easy profit. If these boomer babies had bought homes that they could actually afford, and worked hard to pay them off early (saving tens of thousands in interest, like their builder parents did) they would be sitting back now, relaxing on their paid-for decks, smugly indifferent to the so-called "housing crisis," fully aware that their credit and financial status is impervious until a real crisis comes along, and even if that happens, they may survive that well too. Take a history course: there were millions of people in the Great Depression that went through it with little discomfort, mainly because they entered that time with low debt, or no debt. That one factor alone carried hundreds of thousands through without a scratch. Forget job skills, or money put away......just having no significant debt was enough. Today, boomers and X'ers think that anything less than $10,000 credit debt is not significant.

People can't afford to fill up their tanks. Boomers and their younger bretheren can't afford to fill up their 12 mpg, blinged out SUV's because they spend hundreds a month in interest payments on their electronic gadgets, their plasma screens, their elaborate vacations, their designer shoes and pants, their 22" dubs that they had to have on said SUV. Funny thing is, today, with gas at over $4 a gallon, all those pretty SUV's are still zooming up and down the roads, speeding merrily along, burning fossils with one blonde driver on a cell phone, without a care in the world. You may now see 2 mopeds on the road, instead of 1, but that's about all the adjustment you see in your driving world. People still gun it from every stop light, drive 80+ on the interstate, and race through suburb streets as if escaping a nuclear blast.

Food prices are "soaring." Well, an industrial, capitalist society does run on fuel, so if gas prices rise $2 a gallon in 2 years, then yes, banana's are going to cost 10 cents more per pound. Soaring? Expect such extremist language from the democrats who run the liberal media, in the hopes that they can get their candidate in office. Are restaurants closing? No. Are people still eating out? Of course! Are boomers, especially late boomers, and extra-especially X'ers going to actually begin cooking? Heavens, NO! No on is starving, and no one is shutting off their cell phones, or their children's cell phones, or refusing to rent movies, or game boys, and so on. Obesity is still a national problem, and will continue to get worse. Despite "soaring" prices.

Our current national financial situation can only be good for those who have never practiced financial responsibility in their lives. Conservative financial methods will either be adopted, or forced financial adjustments will bring the spend, spend, spend generation to their collective knees, eventually. Meanwhile, the godless liberal drive-by media will continue to tout these, poor, suffering spend-easy's as victims, duped by ruthless lenders, unable to help themselves. Be that as it may, when an entire generation of Americans cannot afford even a rudementary rise in gasoline prices without financial ruin, there are greater issues than price per gallon. Would lower gas prices be nice? Of course! But if that happens quickly (not likely without more domestic drilling and refineries) the spender generation will have learned nothing.

Immoral lending practices are not the problem. If you can afford to buy a $100,000 home, you should have enough sense to know how to borrow, spend, and lend responsibly. Even this author knows that an ARM or Balloon loan is a poor choice at best, as interest rates can change dramatically in less than a year. Consumers are not being duped. Lenders are responding to the incredibly irrational and selfish nature of this no delay, no penality generation by offering them exactly what they want: immediate gratification, and let tomorrow take care of itself.

Irresponsible consumer spending has been a national problem for decades. Few save, few invest, few put aside money for emergencies. Most spend all they make, spend it quickly, and borrow without any forethought about paying back. The paint themselves into a financial corner, and then whine when that practice bites them in the butt. Live on the ragged edge, and eventually, you take the fall. Live conservatively, and you ride out times like this with little guilt or pain. Which do you want?

Stupidity rises with ego-centrism and selfishness. America is losing its conservative, hard working, sacrifice now for a better future, past. Americans have been sewing to the wind, and are now reaping the whirlwind. Americans have denied themselves nothing, and now with a minor economic bump, have nothing. IT MAKES PERFECT SENSE. How could this have happened? How could such a ignorant question be asked?

Conservative, responsible, no-debt economic practices may deny those who follow them of some things in the here and now, and they may seem boring and old school, but those who are of that school are laughing NOW at the spoiled, selfish, it's-all-about-me, generation that is losing their homes, selling their SUV's, and breaking out the cookware, hoping for a miracle.

The miracle would be this -- pay off your debt while denying yourself of all the useless and worthless pleasures you've enjoyed for so long, and get those pimple-faced morons who do nothing a J O B and make them pull their weight.

Heck, while you're at it, sell the plasma, buy some good walking shoes, and spend some time with your kids in the evening while getting some needed exercise.

It couldn't possibly hurt more than losing that 3rd home.

Disciple Musings, part I

"And He was saying to them all, 'If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.'" Luke 9: 23- 24.

In this post we take a decidely religious turn and deal, in part, with the topic of being a disciple of Christ.

Much has been written and said on what it means to be a disciple. In the time when Christ was actually walking the earth, His "disciples" were actually referred to as followers. There were many kinds of followers, from casual to close, and the 12 disciples were among the closest, even though most scholars believe that there were many others who remained unnamed who heard and saw basically everything John or Peter did. Anyway, these men who were close to Jesus went from followers, to close friends, to believers, to disciples, to apostles, all within a time frame of roughly 4 - 5 years. It was a difficult time for them and their ability to see all that Jesus was teaching and showing them was limited, at best.

Fast forward about 2,000 years and today, a "disciple" of Christ is more commonly known as a Christian, which means "Christ-follower." To say that we are a disciple of Christ simply means that as a follower and believer in Christ, we study, examine, and try to imitate His life and teachings. In a sense, we are students of our Lord, but students extreme - we want to become absorbed in all that He is, all that He said, all that He represents.

So, when Christ was speaking to both His disciples and the crowd around and said that a disciple must "take up their cross daily..." He was using a word picture that would help them understand many things about being a disciple. Perhaps this one reference can help a great deal in the on-going search for what a true disciple is to be.

First, we must ask, "what did the cross represent?" Here is a short list with some explanations:

1. The cross represented sacrifice: No matter how zealous we want to be, we can never sacrifice ourselves like Christ did. We may give up things, make resolutions, and modify our behavior, but His sacrifice was both totally complete, divine, and beyond the scope of any human endeavor. The people in South America or elsewhere who have themselves placed on a cross at Easter or some other holiday are only making a mockery of Christ's death. His sacrifice for all humanity was for He alone, and no other. All that happened in that act cannot be contained in all the books in all the libraries in the world. Christ knew this, even as His followers would in a few years, but at this time, He was referring to the need for His followers to make daily sacrifices of self will for God's will. The cross represents sacrifice and since no one who follows Christ can truly follow someone or something else, it requires daily tuning of our hearts and minds to put us in proper position to His leadership.

2. The cross represents obedience: Christ willingly went to His death to fulfill God's ultimate covenant with mankind. He gave His life as part of the plan that existed before the world began. This was no "on the fly" decision or adjustment. God always has, and always will fulfill all His plans and purposes. He is a God of order and design. Christ was taunted with the option of taking another route, but then He would be sabotaging His own plan He designed with the Father. In reality, there was no other option and Christ exemplified His obedience to the Father, which signified unity and cohesion. When we as disciples of Christ obey God, we are signifing that we are in unision with God's soverenity. Christ was saying in these recorded verses that to deny our own will and take up God's will, we symbolize where our aligence is, and who our Master is. This daily act of obedience to God's will aligns us with the Father's master plan for this world.

3. The cross represents death: Everyone who hung on a cross died. Some died that day, many others died days later. Christ died within hours due to His horribly tortured condition. When Christ said to take up the cross daily, He was saying that we must die to our own desires, dreams, and carnal thinking. It is not amazing that a non-disciple will think more about themselves than anyone else. People who are narcissistic and self absorbed are not acting in a surprising way. When self is in command, self is served. When Christ is in command, self must die and Christ must live in self's place. It's an easy thing to explain, but a highly difficult thing to live out.

4. The cross represents pain: Mr. T predicted "pain" Rocky in the 3rd installment of that series, and Christ was telling His disciples that they would experience pain in their following of Him. The pain could be physical, emotional, spiritual, but there would be pain. It's not exactly a fun reality to be hit with, but living in a constant war between living for ourselves and living for Christ exacts a toll upon any disciple. Only Christians experience this. No one else is in the process of sluffing off one master while trying to give their all to another. Most of the disciples would eventually be tortured and killed for following Christ. Christians in America today will suffer nothing more painful than just seeking the will of the Father over any other. However, that too, is painful. It's not to be taken lightly and courage in this particular reality is something cultivated, rather than found all at once and forever.

5. The cross represents shame and embarassment: Christ was stripped on the cross, but the pictures and drawings we often see display a more modest depiction. It was a shame to be found so guilty as to deserve the cross. The nakedness was just icing on the cake for the prosecutors. The cross was where the most despised and hated criminals went to meet their punishment. For Christians, living in a world that does not want to follow Christ, nor hear His name, we are seen as shameful, despised, and in truth, some of the more zealous detractors would like to punish Christians in the worst way. As a disciple, many will feel shame like Peter did when He denied Christ out of fear of shared punishment. We often feel shame for putting ourselves first, or denying the chance to do good in God's name. We may feel embarassed when we are accused wrongly, or even more when we are rightfully accused of wrong when we knew better. It's quite a thing to have non-Christians rightfully point fingers at us when we act like non-believers. Christ was telling His disciples to take up that fact of shame and embarassment and move on with it.

6. The cross represents Identity: Christ spoke of the shared cross with His disciples long before He actually carried His own. Christ's admonition to take up the cross was at least, in part, an admission of a shared journey. Christ put the will of the Father ahead of His own will. In so doing, He set the example for His followers to put God's will ahead of their own. This is all about getting into the proper position with God. We must see God as the Master, and ourselves as the subjects, before we can proceed any further. He is not a part time God, or an occassional God, but the one true God of all the universe, and everyone in it.
When Christians "take up their cross," they are in fact taking up their identiy within Christ. They are subjecting themselves to His Lordship and ownership over themselves. They are acknowledging that in order to be His disciples, they must deny themselves of their own will and live for the will of the Father.

What "taking up the cross daily" DOES NOT mean is:
1. A little "doing without"
2. Some temporary sacrifices
3. Looking the other way sometimes
4. Forgiving others for some wrongs
5. Putting up with some mild persecution

Taking up our cross daily, as defined by Christ, is not about us so much as it is about acknowledging the work of Christ, understanding our proper position with Him, and understanding that if we are going to share in the life He offers, we will also share in the pain, shame, and difficult obedience He offers as well.

We are always right to exalt God more, to assume everything Christ taught had spiritual implications first, and to know that our efforts and work means nothing in comparision to our devotion and obedience to our loving Lord.

And remember - we cannot love Him any more than we know Him. More on that next time.

One Wright Makes Many Wrongs

Can enough be said about Jeremiah Wright and his association with Barak Obama?

Hardly. But let us begin with the Reverend Wright.

Racism and bigotry is a fact of the human existence. We will always have both on this earth as long as there are more than 2 races of people. At it's core is ignorance and unfounded hatred, but that does nothing but fuel it. Unfortunate, and a stain upon the human race at large.

Racism is not regulated to any one particular race. Racism rears its ugly head among all people groups and nations. To hate or despise another human being because of the color of their skin is a sure sign of unintellectual thought. That is why racism should be eschewed.

No one ever born had any control over their assigned gender or race. Therefore, no one has any more reason to be ashamed of their gender or race, any more than they have a reason to be proud of the same. It's just what God has given you, and you can do nothing about it.

The Reverend Wright must not believe this logic. His comments, of which only a few have surfaced to date, reveal an angry, bigoted, racist man who used the pulpit to spew his ignorant, hate-filled speeches, so as to spur on racism among his congregation, and the world. He committed many "felonies" in doing so. To utter such language and hate from the pulpit is an affront to God, and God will judge that, be assured, just as He will judge those who would lie, misrepresent, and use that desk for personal gain.

Perhaps some would like to control the outcries against Wright by saying that he was "exposed" to racism in his past, and so his anger is somewhat justifiable. Rubbish. Wright may have been exposed to some racism in his distant past, and he may not have. It is not a sure thing. Millions of black Americans lived right through the final era of limited rights and never knew what it was to be called a name or be rejected from employment due to their race.

America has slavery in its past, and there is no denying that fact. But maybe Rev. Wright, and the black American community at large, needs to examine a few other facts as well.

1. America was founded, primiarly, by white males. American has been led, predominately, by white males ever since. The vast majority of business, political, and social institutions in America are either led by, or controlled by, white Americans. There is a erronous thought among some minorities that another race other than the white race "built" America. Such thinking is decrepid at best. To this day, the gender and race that most determines who is elected to the Presidency is white males. If that bothers Wright, then so be it, but it does not change the FACTS. America is a country founded, established, and run by white Americans.

2. America is predominately white. No way around that one! Census polls have shown the black community as representing somewhere between 10 14% of the total population. Most reliable estimates place the black population at 12%. Reverend Wright needs to let that number sink in and make mathematical sense to him. Fully 88% of all Americans are something other than black. The Hispanic population falls somewhere in the 12% category as well, even as census bureau leaders admit that counting all the illegal aliens of hispanic origin is problematic, at best. The Asian community seems to maintain a 6 - 8% ratio, even for the past 2 decades. And of course, there are other small pockets of many other races represented in America as well. The latest surveys indicate that the white community still holds a commanding lead at somewhere around 68% of the total American population. Of course, some liberal elements forecast radical, sweeping changes in those census statistics, but at best, they are wishful thinking, at least, for the next century.

3. There is more slavery in Africa today than ever existed in colonial America. A simple perusal of the many humanitarian agencies working in Africa will establish that the slave trade is alive and well on the continent of Africa, but there is a twist. Today (and for some decades, at least) there are literally millions of black Africans held in slavery by.....wait for it.....black Africans. Of course, those held in slavery are mostly women and children, and the type of slavery ranges from prostitution to work farms for political leaders, but the Reverend Wright shouldn't be bothered with such facts, right? Maybe this is part of the "culture" there and we shouldn't interfere. Again - rubbish. No one truly knows how many slaves were bought and sold in colonial America, but the numbers are generally believed to be below one million. Also, fully 90% of all white Americans alive during our slavery history could not afford to own even one slave, let alone many. What did happen is that many white farmers would "rent out" black slaves held by a few very wealthy white owners to help on their farms during peak work times. And the number of white Americans who would refuse to own a slave, even if their finances allowed, was 10 times more than those who ever owned or rented a slave.

4. Speaking of Africa, genocide is a large part of the fabric of life in Africa, even to this present day. When was the last time genocide was experienced in America? Oh wait....um.....NEVER. Well, to be honest, abortion is our only foray into genocide, but that happens across all racial and economic boundaries. The Reverend Wright made comments that the Bush administration and white America has been practicing "genocide" via the Iraq war, and the drug trade. Rubbish, rubbish, and more rubbish. Perhaps the highly experienced Mr. Obama could make another trip to Kenya and view the vast mass graves of all the Kenyians who were slaughtered in past months because they were not Muslim. Perhaps he and his chap Mr. Wright would like to go together, and take a pleasant tour of Sudan and count all the corpses who met their fate at the hands of other black Africans. Instead......SILENCE. Why? Could it be that there would be nothing to say or feel other than shame? Double standard, indeed.

5. The leading cause of death among young black males between the ages of 15 and 23 is other black males. You got it Rev., murder! Young Black males are far more likely to meet their demise at the hands of another black male than any other form of death. This sobering statistic has been true for decades as well, but somehow, the apologetic liberal press refuses to publish such information. The black American community knows it well, but refuses to talk about it too. Wonder why? Who would be to blame then?

The Reverend Wright, who is undoubtedly paid VERY well by the members of his church, and who lives in a very comfortable home and drives a nice car and can afford insurance, groceries, and clothing as well as any other American making an annual income exceeding the national average, finds it almost impossible to stomach this great nation that sends more aid, more missionaries, and more resources in general to those people of the world who are most starving and destitute, including his preferred "home" of Africa. Funny, he has visited his alleged "home," but refuses to move there and prosper as he has here in America. Wonder why? Could it be that he knows that the opportunities he has had here, and the freedom, and the predominately Christian environment does not exist anywhere in Africa? (maybe he knows more than he lets on!)

White Americans are going to HAVE to stop apologizing for being white, and they are also going to have to stop fretting over what a few of their ancient ancestors may or may have not done to or with slaves in colonial America. The black American community has yelled loud and long, and so loud and long that it may be that they have lost sight of the radical changes on their behalf that white America has initiated. Black Americans are also going to have to come to a point where they stop blaming all their ills on the white leadership that runs America and look to within their own race for solutions and answers.

The Reverend Wright (recently "retired," with his church under investigation by the IRS...hmmm) is an angry, ignorant black bigot who needs to get a new perspective and some sound education, or he needs to buy himself a one-way ticket to his "homeland" and see what kind of life he can eek out there. One way or the other -- but that kind of radical, hate-filled racism cannot and should not be tolerated in America.

And the Wrights of this nation had better watch out too -- that so-called reverse racism, when exposed for what it is, and exposed for it's far reaching pervasiveness, will awaken a huge, white giant that will not be pleasant.

As for Obama, at the time of this writing: Funny how he has taken a page directly from the Clinton playbook for policical posturing -- deny, lie, misspeak, and distance.

BHO will be eating those words soon. Bon appetite!

How NO Can Be Positive

Children are not designed to raise their parents.

This basic premise seemingly is lost among America's parents, at least for the past 3 decades. Ever since America became industrialized, families began moving from the farms to the cities to work, and then around the late 50's, those families began spreading out into urban areas to live where there was more room and cheaper land. This is now what we call the suburbs. With all this moving from farms to the 'burbs, and the relative enrichment of the average American family, came a trend where parents had less contact with their children, and their children had less contact with any kind of responsible work around the home (or farm). In the past 2 decades, one would be hard pressed to find more than 1 in 1000 children to youth-aged children who have ever performed a "chore." Whereas in pre-1940 America a child might work side by side with their parent(s) around the homestead for upwards of 4 hours a day, in post 1960 America, the average child has less than 30 minutes of meaningful contact with either parent a day. It is how even that meger time is spent that is the most disturbing.

The trend in parenting today is to ask the child for advice, direction, and permission, which is exactly opposite of the way it is supposed to be. Quick reference to the previous paragraph would require the need for clarification in that, while families of the past spent more time together, including working together (on farms, etc.), that was no guarantee that all children of the past were reared in a more orthodox fashion. However, having great exposure to the "builder generation," this author can attest to the evidence of traditional, orthodox parenting among those raised prior to the 1950's. Another way of saying this is: among the builder generation, children who ruled over their parents were as unusual as polka dotted zebra's. Hard to find.

Unorthodox parenting is based upon the situation where children are greatly involved in their own rearing, including decision making. This comes about from parents who have shallow resources to pull from for parenting skills, and their deficit of skills is greater than that of their parents. You see, the more financially prosperous America becomes, the more lax and detached parents become, and the more children suffer from too much prosperity, too little work, and too many decisions to make as a child. This article is not an attempt to blame prosperity for spoiled, lazy, and disrespectful children, but merely to show an obvious correlation.

Orthodox parenting understands that the adult parent is in charge of all facets of the child's life, and therefore makes all the decisions for that child, based upon their greater wisdom and intelligence. Orthodox parenting is geared totally towards preparing the child for a responsible, productive adult hood, even if that means the child has to "endure" temporary loss of freedom or delayed satisfaction. Orthodox parenting knows full well that if the child is left to decide, they will almost always, in almost all situations, choose what is easiest, quickest, and least beneficial for them, based upon immediate need gratification and limited knowledge.

Unorthodox parenting is based upon the need to quiet or appease the child in their time of need, which as it turns out, is just about 24/7. This type of parenting shares the child's lack of vision into the future, and merely tries to deal with the here and now. Unorthodox parenting puts the child's immediate needs far above their future needs, and simply "hopes" the future will come to them in a safe, sensible way, with all problems smoothing out in the process.

Unorthodox parents tend to:

• Ask the child what they want to eat
• Ask the child what they want to wear
• Ask the child if they want to be punished
• Ask the child to be nice
• Ask the child to listen to them
• Ask the child to help around the house in vague, indefinite ways
• Be inconsistent in punishment and enforcement
• Whine to their children when they misbehave
• Attempt to strike deals with their children
• Break down easily and give in to the child's demands
• Try to "buy" love from their children by offering gifts or lienency
• Avoid "embarassing" their children at all costs
• See only good in their own child, but all the flaws in other children
• Accept disrespect and hatred from their children
• Give up and walk away from situations where the child is pressing an issue
• Display no real skills in parenting

Orthodox parents tend to:

• TELL their child what to eat, feeding them sound nutritionally balanced meals
• Tell their child what to wear, enforcing decency and good taste
• Tell their child the rules for punishment, and then stick to them
• Tell their children to behave
• Expect comformity to their rules and regulations
• Understand that no child will repeatedly choose what is best for them
• Set boundaries that only benefit the child in the long run
• Say no, mean no, and stick to no when "no" is the appropriate answer
• Understand that they are in charge, and not the child
• Let their children know that they as parents do not live for their children, but are merely responsible for raising them properly so they can move on and be responsible adults
• Allow loving discipline to win the child over, not temporary gifts
• Be determined to make their child see that they are not the center of the universe, but merely another "cog in the wheel" of life, and should always act accordingly
• Teach their children to always respect adults, especially seniors

Quite a contrast, isn't it? But who raises their children by the points of the second, orthodox list? Very few indeed, which is why we now live in a generation of selfish, disrespectful, lazy, immoral, and short sighted adults and children who will, in turn, raise children worse than themselves.

God help us.

The Exalted

Super Bowl 42 is now history, and history keeps repeating itself.

In this much lauded pantheon of pigskin portentions, a single victor emerges, and a single, vanquished team leaves the field of play defeated and dejected. Amid all the chaff and celebration, a single player and solitary coach are lifted to the podium set in the middle of the field, as announcers grope for the proper words to celebrate these proxies representing the entire organization that now basks in the glow of fading glory.

Does anyone see beyond the lights? Does anyone reason further than the statistics? Does anyone question the real significance of it all?

The NY Giants truly played a giant of a game, defeating the seemingly undefeatable New England Patriots in the super-fest we call the Super Bowl. Further analogizing the Giant theme, shades of David and Goliath could be seen in the pre-game musings over who would surely be the victor, and who would be defeated. And who could argue with the recent historical evidence? The Patriots were having a cinderella season, with 16 victories, and no defeats in their season. They had proven to be a formidable force in the NFL, showing almost effortless ability to win against any foe, using their seemingly endless roster of talent at will. Much like the Mike Tyson of old, they walked into the ring of competition with visible confidence and unrestrained ability. As the season unfolded, opposing teams quit asking if they could win, and began asking themselves how to lessen the impact of their given loss to the 'Pats. They were truly the golden child of the '07 season.
The Giants, by comparison, struggled early with two consecutive losses and trouble brewing in the upper ranks of management. As sports writers are known to do, there were early rumblings of a troubled and loss-ridden season for the Giants. However, true to their blue-collar metaphor, they dug in, began to play as a team, and eeked out victory after victory. As post season approached, they were not the favored team to win their conference, but even then, they rose to the occassion and found themselves looking like the spoilers who stole a heady invitation to the game's biggest party. We'll call them the Rocky Balboa's of '07: quaint, raw, awkward, but determined.

The details of the game will be forgotten by both time and this author, but the analogies that present themselves in relation to life in general must be explored, for they are too profound to ignore.

Modern American sports exist to laud and exalt victory. In more recent decades, the American and world public find themselves in a constant search for a hero to exalt above all else, for it is not enough to praise a winning team, but we must also (at least here in the western part of the world) find that one individual on a team to praise above all else. It would seem that those who "bring us the news" cannot focus upon a team, so they search for someone, a lone person, to pin all their ink upon for the consuming public. We should be insulted at such poor logic, but instead, the public follows along like a donkey chasing the proverbial carrot. Is it not enough that only the ultimate victor gets all the attention, but we also have to pull from a talented team the supposed pinnacle of their talent, in the form of one person?

It says something very disturbing about American culture, this endless search for "the top" athlete and team. It begs more questions than the unthinking masses want answered.

Tom Brady, quarterback of the Patriots, was spoken of more often than anyone else in the organization, from the coach, to the owner, to all the other players. When all the comments and comparisions and air time his face received are added up, one would assume that he was the team, and all the other uniformed men were there just to make him look good. But he's not the first to receive these accolades, and he will certainly not be the last. But to spend too much time on this particular subject is not the focus of this article.

All of the victories of this past season prepared the Patriots for only one thing: further victories. They forgot how to lose. Matter of fact, given that the sentiment described above is accepted by most in the NFL, few teams or individuals are prepared to lose. Wise 'ol Andy Griffith once said to Opey, "Winnin's easy....it's losing that builds character." Andy was right, but no one in American sports is listening to him, and even fewer of the millions of sports fans are either.

In our "Winning is Everthing" society, we are losing more than just a few lessons. We are losing our ability to accept life as it is, with victories and defeats boardering the road of life. We are foregoing valuable lessons that help to mold us into better people, and a better culture. We are exalting one another, rather than the one God and Lord who only deserves such a place in our lives.

Tom Brady may be a fine man, but he looked utterly confused and average, if you will, when faced with an on-slaught of fierce defensive linemen who were determined to give him a helmet headache. Eli Manning, who must tire of the monkey on his back, looked like what he really is in football, and that is -- an average athlete who continues to try while becoming incrementially better at his position. He was unprepared to be the victor, and Brady unprepared to be the loser. But both men deserve appropriate accolades for playing well within their respective teams, and for making it as far as the super bowl. And so the question: Why do we not view these games in this way, rather than "victor takes all?"

It all goes back to being exalted. We, as humans, were not designed and created to EVER be exalted. In fact, you might say that being exalted is the antithesis of our very nature. We were created to exalt the one true God, and to be instruments of praise and adoration towards our creator and Savior. In reality, we were designed to be devoid of any praise or adoration ourselves, and so when we seek to exalt one another, or even ourselves, we are committing a heinous sin against God, mainly in the form of idolatry. This goes for even something like exalting a president, a quarterback, or an entertainer. Look at the lives of certain young, female singers to witness the ill effects of exaltation upon them and their health. In short, exaltation for humans is caustic at best, idolatry at worst. We are to project the praise (towards God) and never to receive it. Not even from each other.

Lessons learned from the recent super bowl?

1. In all of life, how we handle defeat says more about us than how we handle winning.
2. No one, anywhere, wins all the time. To be unprepared to lose is to live outside of reality.
3. There really is no "I" in TEAM. Here in America, we would do well to celebrate the collective effort than to exalt the select individual.
4. No human is ever to be exalted. We were not designed to receive praise, and if we attempt to do so, we void our warranty, as it were.
5. Ultimate victory (as we try to define it) is a fairy tale soon forgotten, devoid of meaning or substance. What lasts is the character that is built as we each strive towards achieving the goals (hopefully) God has set before us. It's all those bumps and bruises that refine us, and not the victories. In reality, a supposed victory is in the travel, not the destination.
6. When, will we as a society, begin to see striving and work ethic as and end unto itself? Will we lose anything if we forego the notion that all things must end in a final showdown?
7. Another year, and another super bowl. May it be a year when fewer exalt one, and more exalt the only One worthy of our praise.