New Generation Same Challenges
By · Commentsobject>Cartoon Predicts the Future 50 Years Ago This is Amazing Insight
My Thoughts on the Fourth
By · CommentsSome veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar, a certain look in the eye. Others may carry the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg–or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul’s ally forged in the refinery of adversity. Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem. You can’t tell a vet just by looking.
What is a vet?
He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn’t run out of fuel.
He is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th parallel.
They’re the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Da Nang.
He is the POW who went away one person and came back another–or didn’t come back at all.
He is the Quantico drill instructor that has never seen combat–but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account rednecks and gang members into Marines, and teaching them to watch each other’s backs.
He is the parade-riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand.
He is the career quartermaster who watches the ribbons and medals pass him by.
He is the three anonymous heroes in The Tomb Of The Unknowns, whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all the anonymous heroes whose valor die unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean’s sunless deep.
He is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket–palsied now and aggravatingly slow–who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come. He is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being, a person who offered some of his life’s most vital years in the service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs. He is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and he is nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known. So remember, each time you see someone who has served our country, just lean over and say, “Thank you.” That’s all most people need, and in most cases, it will mean more than any medals they could have been awarded or were awarded.
It is the soldier,
not the reporter,
Who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the soldier,
not the poet,
Who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the soldier,
not the campus organizer,
Who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.
It is the soldier,
Who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
and whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who allows the protester to burn the flag.
That’s how I see it anyway……..
This might make you slow down!
By · CommentsThe other day a good friend of mine sent me some pictures of an experimental speed control device being tested in Canada! Just imagine if you were flying down the road slurping your morning coffee, on the phone, while tuning your radio and you saw this…… 
Now that might make you pop the brake a little! The authorities claim that in initial tests these giant “stickers” are proving even more effective than far more costly forms of speed control……well I guess!! Looks like you could lose you whole front end in one of these! 
They are so realistic that people slow to a crawl and attempt to straddle the holes, not recognizing even up close that they aren’t real. 
Authorities are planning wide spread implementation which will be interesting no doubt. However I fear that if these same tests were conducted in Louisiana they would be met with far less exciting results. I know a few roads that have the real deal and still people drive 70 and 80 hmmm……what does that say about us!! 
Just another normal Day…….
By · CommentsA few weeks ago I ran across this video taken in 1906 in San Francisco only a few days before the devastating quake that forever changed that city. It’s cool to me for several reasons… One, those people were crazy drivers. They were all over the place, and the pedestrians were just as nuts jumping out in front of the trolleys hustling along their way to an unknown destination. Secondly, the background track is really kickin, third and more soberly, that fact that these folks were busy living their lives oblivious to the fact that their whole world was about to be turn upside down. If historians are correct less than three days later one of the worst natural disasters ever in the united states would fall on these poor people. A devastating earthquake and the resulting fires would destroy this proud city and turn it’s majestic skyline to one that resembles a war scene.
It reminds me that life is not forever, to enjoy and live today for something greater than just this life, because before we know it ……it may be gone.
I Was Wrong!
By · CommentsHe wrote these words with a fountain pen before the greatest invasion in history began. The attempt to take the beaches at Normandy against Germany’s entrenched defenses was a fearful risk. The effort would be massive, and if the attempt failed, he wanted someone to blame. Himself.
“Our landing has failed,” he wrote, “And I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based upon the best information available. The troops, the air, and the navy did all that bravery and devotion could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt, it is mine, and mine alone” (Dwight D. Eisenhower, June 5, 1944).
Thankfully that was a message he never had to deliver. It’s ironic to learn that the secret to greatness is the ability to admit failure. Three words, more difficult to pronounce than “Mephibosheth” are, “I was wrong.”
It’s hard in a marriage to learn that the problem with us is me. It’s too easy when we abandon the Lord to blame his church. People wonder why Saul was considered a failure as leader of Israel, and the flawed but earnest David achieved greatness.
It’s not that David made fewer mistakes; he admitted responsibility for them.
“For I know my transgressions,” he declared. We know our brethren’s transgressions. David knew his own. “And my sin is always before me” (Psalm 51:3). In contrast, our sin is constantly repressed in our memories!
How’s your pronunciation of hard-to-say words?
We’re really so small!
By · CommentsIf you’re like me sometimes the arrogance of our fellow humans is a bit aggravating. We pretend to have so much figured out, and believe we have such a command of the world around us, that we forget just how small we are in that same universe. We make bold claims like “there is no God” or “God is dead” when we but only barely understand a sparse corner of the universe! I recently ran across some material sent to me by a friend that might help to put our place in the universe a bit more realistically.
Football….. A Disturbing Thing
By · CommentsA couple of years ago Churches across the country received an unusual notice from of all people the NFL. The message had nothing to do with spiritual concerns, but financial ones. They announced a new playbook regarding the broadcast of their games most specifically, the SUPER BOWL. In 
order to project the Super Bowl game on churches big screens, the congregations would be required to purchase expensive licenses, otherwise they must settle for a screen size smaller than 55 inches…….. and a cry went out!! The Fall Creek Church was one of the first to receive a notice. Through their spokeswoman Marlene Broome, the church said the letter was “really a disturbing thing.”
Hmmmm… really “a disturbing thing”? There are plenty of “disturbing things in this world, child trafficking, abortion of the unborn, abuse and murder of the innocent, a lost generation of American young people, loss of biblical based morality in the public arena, we could go on and on, and we go and choose a football game to get all agitated about.
The outrage among American Churches was such that it took only 13 months—this is “lightning speed” in the world of copyright deliberations—to render a positive solution. Thanks to bipartisan action in the U.S. Senate last winter, churches will be allowed to legally show Super Bowl 2009 in their facilities. Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Arlen Specter (D-PA) brandished enough political ire to elicit a favorable response on Feb. 19, 2008 from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell that will now allow churches to legally host this year’s Super Bowl events.
I wonder what the call on the field might be if we were to put this play up for review in THE booth with our heavenly father. Would we be proud to say that in a world where the Church is sliding toward obscurity, we held the line on a football game?
How much is a trillion dollars?
By · Comments Some things lack true dimension until we compare them with something tangible, like the length of eternity or how much is a trillion dollars! Suppose you were to earn 1 dollar per second 24 hours each day. In approximately 11.5 days you would have accumulated a million dollars, in 32 years a billion dollars and you would have to wait 32,000 years to accumulate a trillion dollars. To pay off our current national debt your wait would be roughly 448,000 years. You might be grey headed by then!
Or suppose you were to be paid in new crisp 100 dollar bills for a job. If your salary was 1,000,000 you would be able to easily fit that amount in a regular sized brief case. However if a trillion dollars is more your fancy you would need over 2 acres of land on which to place a cube 7 feet high of crisp bills.
The point has been made a million times, no pun intended, in a lot of different ways, that the consequences of our reckless spending will have an effect on someone, most likely our children, grandchildren, and several generations to follow!
Recklessly spending our lives has consequences as well, and they don’t just last 448,000 years, they last for eternity………
Five tips for healthy Family Bible Studies!
By · Comments
- 1. Set a specific appointment for your Family Bible Study Time. And keep it!
Setting an appointment shows your children that you put a priority on the Word of God and on your family. Regardless of the age of your children, this should not be an option for them or for you. 
If one of you (parents) has a busy work schedule, take that into consideration as you select the time and frequency that works best for your family. Having one parent who travels or works long hours makes this “family first time” even more precious and important.
It does not matter how often the appointment is for, as long as it is dependable. A monthly appointment that is written in stone is much better than a weekly one that no one takes seriously.
2. Open and close family time with prayer.
How often does your family pray together outside of blessing your food? Starting and ending your Bible lesson with a prayer will begin to unify your family on a spiritual level.
During the prayer, invite the Holy Spirit in to join and guide your study. This will help your children to begin to understand that the Holy Spirit wants to be present and important in their lives.
After a few Family Bible Study sessions, encourage members of the family to take turns saying the opening prayers. As you close, ask each person one at a time if he or she would like to pray about something specific.
Note: I would also suggest that the parents get together and pray over this family time before hand. This will allow you to reconnect as a couple and to get on one accord about what will be taught.
3. Keep it natural, relaxed and fun.
You don’t have to sit at the kitchen table or office desk. Find a place where your family will be able to sit comfortably and won’t feel like their in place for a boring lecture. Sit in the living room or even in Mom and Dan’s bed. If your children are small and have a playroom with a reading corner, it can make a perfect spot for Family Bible Study.
4. Make Family Bible Studies a BIG deal!
Whether you decided to do your family time once a week or more often, as you get closer to the day, Talk It Up! Tell your kids how much fun it will be and how excited you are to spend this special time with them.
- If you have a family calendar, add this special date.
- Put a decorative sign on the fridge announcing the upcoming event.
- Lay neat invitations on your children’s pillows inviting them to join in on this special family event!
5. Keep it REAL!
Keep the conversation up beat and exciting. Give examples of how the Bible Study topic applies in your own lives. Tell stories of how God has done similar things in your life. Be careful not to tell the stories of the Bible like fairy tales. Tell them like stories that really happened – Because they did!
