Random Observations-On Government Shutdown and Obamacare Rollout

• How much smarter Republicans in Congress would have been to just let the Obamacare fiasco play out without all the drama of the government shutdown?   All the government shutdown did was mask the coverage of the horrible rollout of the Obamacare website.  The Cruz strategy never made any sense to me at all.
• Why should Republicans be the ones to push for delay of the individual mandate?  The Dems own Obamacare lock, stock, and barrel.  What some of the Tea Party type of Republicans have been pushing for is to push back the mandate past the 2014 elections, so that people don't see the full results of this administrations foolish policies until after the elections.  I don't get this either!
• I have a lot of sympathy for the goals of the Tea Party.  However, the "take no prisoners" tactics that they have used turns a lot of people off and really poisons the water for all conservatives.  (See Mike Huckabee's opening monologue from October 20th here-I couldn't agree more!)
• I have seen this president squirm out from under so many things that would have destroyed almost any other president.  Benghazi, Fast and Furious, IRS, etc.  This is because the press has given him a pass on almost all of it.  It's not working now.  NBC, ABC, CNN, CBS are being just as hard on him about Obamacare as Fox and talk radio.  It seems the honeymoon is finally over!
• Watch this big Obamacare supporter describe her dismay at seeing her premiums skyrocket.  Buyer remorse?

Want to read more?  Here's links to some of my more popular posts:
A Colossal Failure
Abolition and Abortion
Things My Mom Taught Me 
September 15, 1963
Reflections On 30 Years of Marriage-Part 1
My Take On "The Bible" Series

September 15, 1963

50 Years Ago

My parents were living in Birmingham, Alabama, my mother's hometown,  during the fall of 1963.  My mother, Trina Nall, was expecting her first child (I would be born the following March.) She was working at the time as a secretary for the city of Homewood, one of the outlying suburbs.  I remember her telling me as a child of the awful events of that day.

Those conversations I had with my mom came back to my mind recently as I was reading the excellent book entitled "While The World Watched" by Carolyn McKinstry.   In her book, Mrs. McKinstry describes her life growing up as a black child in Birmingham, Alabama during the 1960's, culminating in the terrible bombing of her church, 16th Street Baptist, which took place that Sunday in September, 1963.  She narrowly missed death in the bombing, but four of her young friends, Addie Mae Collins (age 14), Denise McNair (age 11), Carole Robertson (age 14), and Cynthia Wesley (age 14), were killed in the attack. The explosion blew a hole in the church's rear wall, destroyed the back steps and all but one stained-glass window, which showed Christ leading a group of little children.

As I was reading this book, Ms. McKinstry told of going by Kiddieland, a local amusement park, as a child.  I was shocked to read that in the early 1960's, black children were not allowed in Kiddieland.  I remember that park, where my parents would take me as a small child just a few years later.  Integration had taken place by then, so I of course had no idea of it's ugly history.  I recently learned that the one time that black children were allowed in the adjacent fairgrounds was when Birmingham's notorious police commissioner, Bull Conner, used the property as a place to imprison civil rights demonstrators when the prisons became full. Many of these demonstrators were teens and even children.  They were kept penned up in the open air with no shelter and no facilities for days at a time.

As a response to this moving book, I recently wrote to Mrs. McKinstry and shared with her my story.  I'd like to share part of my letter here:

Dear Ms. McKinstry,

I just finished reading your excellent book, "While The World Watched" and wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed it.  While I live in Indiana now, I grew up in Alabama.  In fact, I was born in Birmingham March 12, 1964, just a few short months from the terrible bombing that took place at your church.  As a matter of fact, I recall my mother describing to me her horror at hearing of the bombing... I remember her telling me about talking to people who had witnessed the bombing.  My mother, who passed away ten years ago, was a white Birmingham wife and mother who abhorred racism and taught her children the dangers of judging others because of their skin color.   I suspect that the events that you describe on September 15, 1963, were such a shock to her that it gave birth to a determination in her to teach her children differently.  I never heard her use the "N-word" and she never allowed my sister and I to use it.  In fact, she told us how much she hated it and how demeaning it was to people

...I went into the 1st grade in Birmingham in the fall of 1970.  Of course, I was too small to know it, but my mother told me later that it was the first year that Woodrow Wilson Elementary was integrated.  She had a choice of which class to put me in.  She was probably the only white woman that requested that her child be put in the classroom of a black teacher.  I still remember that teacher, Mrs. Stone, who would become one of my favorite elementary teachers.  She loved her students and we loved her.  Because of my mother's determination to put me in this black teacher's class, I had a very positive outlook growing up towards people of other races.  As a matter of fact, one of my best friends in high school was black...

This last July marked ten years since my mother passed away.  She taught me many things, but one of the most important is to treat all people with dignity and respect.  That may seem unremarkable now, but it was a remarkable thing to teach a young white child in the 60's and 70's in the lower South. 

I received a gracious reply to my email from Carolyn McKinstry, which I share below:

I am so grateful that you read the book and that it was a blessings to you. I just wanted to tell the story from the eyes of a 14 year old in a very simple way. It has helped me tremendously to continue moving on.
Traveling has also helped me to know that God made so many wonderful people throughout the world. I have met at least half of them!! (smile). And I have never encountered anyone who did not fell exactly as you have described. I am grateful to God for them and for you. This is what pushes me to continue the journey....I thank God for all He has done, and for all you are doing. We cannot change yesterday, but we can control today. And we should for tomorrow is not promised. You are an inspiration to me!!

This wonderful lady as well as all of those who fought the battle for civil rights are an inspiration to me as well!

Want to read more?  

Reflections On 30 Years of Marriage-Part 1

My Take On "The Bible" Series

Abolition and Abortion

Things My Mom Taught Me 

A Colossal Failure

A Colossal Failure X2

A Colossal Failure X 2

As I was writing my last blog post "A Colossal Failure" three weeks ago, word was just coming in about the chemical attack in Syria that had taken place that day.  Little did I know that it would dominate the news for the next several weeks.  Since then, I've watched in amazement as this administration has double-underlined the point I was trying to make last month that the foreign policy (or lack thereof) of this administration is certainly "a colossal failure."  Although I personally believe we should have gone into Syria as a response to this use of chemical weapons, I don't think this president ever actually wanted to do what he stated that we must do.  He threw it to Congress, hoping for some cover, and got completely rebuffed.

The events of this week have made the United States government look like the Keystone Kops, with Secretary Kerry making statements about "an unbelievably small" strike (which I thought was an unbelievably obtuse statement), then inadvertently opening the door for wily Russian President Putin to take center stage as a supposed arbiter of peace, then President Obama making the case for and against intervention in Syria in the same speech!  It would be funny if it weren't so tragic.  Our government, hence our country, has been made the laughingstock of the whole world.

Ron Fournier, a very well-respected journalist for National Journal (hardly a right-wing pulication), wrote the following this week that I thought summed this whole fiasco up:

The good news is we're not at war. The bad news is … almost everything else about President Obama's handling of Syria--the fumbling and flip-flopping and marble-mouthing--undercut his credibility, and possibly with it his ability to lead the nation and world.

He would go on to quote a Democratic strategist who stated that "this has been one of the most humiliating episodes in presidential history."

I fear that we are entering an incredibly dangerous period in world history with a man at the helm that doesn't have the least idea what he's doing.  The tragedy in Benghazi a year ago (which we still have so little information about and for which not one person has been arrested), attested to this as well as the events of the last week.

The prophet Isaiah confronted an equally bad leader in Judah almost 3,000 years ago.  Ahaz' reckless and foolish leadership had left the nation a shell of it's former self.  Isaiah at first counseled the king that "If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all." (Isa. 7:9b)  This type of resoluteness was not something that Ahaz possessed, and I'm afraid it's not something that our president possesses either.  However, Isaiah, after being rebuffed by the king, set his sites on a higher King, who is King above all Kings (and above all presidents!).  It was actually at this low point in history that God would give his prophet these incredibly powerful words, foretelling of a time when One would come in whom we can put our complete dependence:

For to us a child is born,    to us a son is given,
    and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the greatness of his government and peace    there will be no end... (Isa: 9:6,7a)

In the end, the government that Christ will bring will be the only government that we can have complete dependence on.  In the meantime, this world will face more and more crises that are unsolvable by even the greatest leaders.  Yet those of us who trust in Christ have no reason to fear, for His government and His peace are active and alive today in our hearts.  No matter how chaotic this world gets, we have a sure foundation in Him!

A Colossal Failure

While most Americans are focused on events here at home, the world, particularly the Middle East, is beginning to unravel before our eyes.  Consider the following news reports:

• Syria has been engaged in a brutal civil war in which over 100,000 have already died in the last two years.
• Just today, reports of extensive chemical attacks in Syria have surfaced in which over 1,000 people have been killed recently, including many children. 
• The so-called Arab Spring has become a Middle-Eastern Nightmare in Egypt, as that country begins it's descent into civil war.  Over 1,000 Egyptians have died this month as clashes between the military and the Muslim Brotherhood intensify.  In addition,  many Coptic Christians have lost their lives as radical muslims attack and burn their churches.
• Iran continues its quest to obtain nuclear weapons as the world sits by and watches.
• North Korea has already obtained nuclear weapons, and in the near future could attack South Korea or even the American West Coast.

Yet at this critical juncture, the U.S. has put itself in a position in which in has less and less ability to influence events for good.  In five short years, the Obama Administration has pursued a disastrous foreign policy, which has resulted in dramatically waning influence of the U.S.  Consider this:

• It was only one year ago today that President Obama famously drew a red line with Syria, declaring that the U.S. would not tolerate President Assad's use of chemical weapons.  Since then, while it has demonstratively been proven the chemical weapons have been used, the U.S. does nothing.  As a matter of fact, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs has stated now that the U.S. has no plans to intervene at all, since intervention will not serve our interests.  When our government makes threats and then refuses to follow up on them, it emboldens our enemies and dismays our friends. 
• Our policy is, in the words of New York Times columnist Roger Cohen  "a colossal strategic failure." He states that "the Obama administration has appeared hesitant and wavering, zigzagging from support for Morsi to acceptance of his ouster. "  Again, the administration's foreign policy incoherence is greatly diminishing our standing in the world.
• The U.S.  does lots of talking but does nothing of substance in  deterring North Korea and Iran from obtaining and using nuclear weapons.  

In the meantime, the American people are largely asleep.  We somehow don't realize the implications of what's going on outside our borders.  Frankly, the dangerously feckless foreign policy of this administration could have even more disastrous consequences than even his catastrophic domestic policy.  However, we seem to have developed a new strain of the "Fortress America" mentality that existed right before our entry into World War I and then later in World War II.  Even many conservative Republicans have played into this thinking, believing that we just need to recede off the world stage and "take care of our own business."  However, the world of 2013 is actually far more dangerous than the world of 75 or 100 years ago.  We desperately need a resolute American leader like a Lincoln or like Winston Churchill, but instead we have an administration that looks more like that of  Neville Chamberlain's in Britain right before the Second World War.  

Throughout our history, America has had a significant role to play in world affairs.  Particularly since World War II, the United States has been considered by the entire world as the Bulwark of Democracy.  In the years 1945-1991, we were one of the world's two great superpowers, and since the disintegration of the Soviet Union, we have been the only superpower left.  Up until very recently, our influence in the world, for good or for ill, has been enormous.  It was America who instituted the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe after World War II.  It was America who stood up against communist aggression around the world until the Soviet Union found itself on "the ash heap of history."   It has been America who has provided billions of dollars in aid of fight the spread of AIDS on the African continent.  These policies made the world a better place, which in turn has given America a long period of relative peace and tranquility in which people can raise their families in safety, worship God as they see fit, and generally enjoy life.

We need to pay attention to what's going on around us.  I'm not in despair, and I wouldn't want anyone else to be in despair.  I certainly believe that God is ultimately in control of events, and I put my trust in Him in these perilous times.   However, we must do our part.  We can't snooze while the world burns, and we develop a "Fortress America" mentality at our own peril.

Want to read more?  Here's links to some of my more popular posts:
Reflections On 30 Years of Marriage-Part 1
My Take On "The Bible" Series
Abolition and Abortion
Things My Mom Taught Me 

Things My Mom Taught Me

Today marks ten years since my mother, Trina Farris Nall, passed away.  She was only 60 years old.  She and my father had come to visit us the previous week at our new home in Cynthiana, Indiana, and had spent a few days with us around the July 4th holiday.  She had been struggling with a lot of health issues for several years and really looked very unwell during the whole time she was with us.  As she was leaving on July 7, 2003, she hugged and kissed me and told me that she was proud of the man that I had become.  She died of a heart attack at Vanderbilt University hospital in Nashville before the day was over.

I spoke at her funeral a few days later.  I recently ran across my notes from my talk and I'd like to share these with you:

Things My Mom Taught Me

1. There are a lot of things more important in this life than money.  Proverbs 22:1 states "A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, Loving favor rather than silver and gold  She taught me the importance of integrity, faith, and family.
2. Love of learning. Though she only had a high school education, she actually never stopped learning and was always trying to improve her mind.  She taught me to love literature even as a small child.  She spent countless hours reading to my sister Lori and I when we were small, and she was always reading a book or two herself.  She and I spent many hours playing Scrabble (2013 note-she would have loved being able to play Scrabble online!)
3. Love of all types of music.  There always seemed to be some kind of music going on in our home.  It might have been hymns, country, pop, or classical.  It really gave me an eclectic taste in music.
4. She taught me to participate in politics, not just criticize those in power.  She and my dad
   imparted to me a conservative political philosophy, but also encouraged me to think for myself.  And vote.  You don't have a right to criticize the government if you don't participate yourself.
5. Always keep a sense of humor.  She kept her sense of humor right up to the end of her life.  Even though she had many reasons, she never allowed herself to become bitter.
6. Keep your fingernails clean so people won't think you're white trash.
7. Don't be prejudiced.  The color of a person's skin has nothing to do with who they are.  It's whats inside that counts
8. Your wife is not your slave.  She taught Lori and I both how to keep house and cook meals.  There is no "man's work" and "woman's work."  Just work.
9. Don't disciple your children in anger.  She and Dad would always explain to us what we were being disciplined for.  And, by the way, they weren't afraid to spank.  They would make it hard enough to bring us to repentance, but not so hard as to harm us in any way.
10. The importance of fatherhood.  She always built my father up in our presence.  I never once remember her belittling him in any way in front of us.  She gave him his rightful place in our home.  My dad taught me how to be a father, but she also played a key role in this.
11. Don't fight in front of the kids  I know she and my dad had disagreements, but they always kept them away from us.
12. Love your kids no matter what they do.  She always showed unconditional love to Lori and I.  When I grew up, I didn't stay with the religious denomination that she and my family and and her family before her had been in.  This made no difference in her love for me.
13. Don't try to make your kids in your mold  Allow them to be themselves.  
14. The importance of the Bible, God's Word.  The Bible was a very special book to her, and it became even more special to her in her latter years.
15. Go to church whether you feel like it or not.
16. Love the Lord with all your heart, soul and strength, and your neighbor as yourself.

I miss her.  I miss being able to talk to her and to get her insight on the world around us.  When you lose a parent, your really lose a part of your past.  I long to ask her about things that happened way back when.  I miss her being able to see her grandchildren all grown up and her great-granchildren, that she would have loved so much.  However, she has left a legacy in my life and in my sister's life that still goes on today.  

P.S.  I recently came across Mom's old bible.  I found a sticky between the pages of Luke with "Luke 6:38" written on it.  This scripture obviously meant something to her in her final days.  Probably one of the last things she read is certainly something she practiced in her life:

"Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you"

Want to read more?  Here's links to some of my more popular posts:
Reflections On 30 Years of Marriage-Part 1
My Take On "The Bible" Series
Abolition and Abortion
A Colossal Failure 

The View From Behind The Counter

I've been a salesman at a local tire store for the last nine years.  In this capacity, I wait on dozens of people every day, most of whom are not exactly happy to be there.  Tires and auto service are "grudge purchases", inasmuch as most people don't wake up in the morning excited that they are going to get to buy tires for their car or get their truck fixed.  As a result, I often see people at their worst. It just kind of comes with the job. Anyone that has ever been in any kind of service work would probably agree with me that about 95% of the customers are no problem.  There may be issues, but most people are reasonable to deal with.  If you treat them right, they'll treat you right.  However, there are probably about 5% "problem children" who can be rude and obnoxious and not satisfied with anything you do.  The sad thing about this to me is that many of these difficult customers are Christians.

I've had a person with a Christian t-shirt cuss me out, a pastor make completely unreasonable demands and treat me with contempt and derision when I didn't do what he wanted, and other known "Christians" be incredibly rude to me or to the people I work with.  Some of these situations just made me want to crawl under the floor, not because of what they might have done to me, but because of what they did to the name of Christ.  I work with people who are my friends and that  I have a lot of respect for.  Good people, but people who don't know the Lord like I do.  When I see this happen, it just destroys any witness I might have had with them.

We think being a witness is just about telling people about God, giving them tracts, and getting them to church on Sunday.  I have nothing against any of these things, but I've come to believe that witnessing should be 99% walk and 1% talk.  I think we as Christians have it backwards sometimes. It's really about treating the people around you in a Christ-like way and going out of your way to serve everybody.  I heard Dr. Tony Evans say something one time that really resonated with me.  He said that when you go into a place of business to be waited on, whether it's a restaurant, a store, or a doctor's office, you need to go into that place realizing that you are the servant to the person who is waiting on you.  When was the last time you really appreciated the server in the restaurant who took your order, not just with a good tip (which you should certainly do!), but with a word of appreciation for her service?  What about the person who checks you out at Walmart?  Do you treat him with appreciation, or just as an inanimate object who is serving your needs?  If you are a Christian and you treat people who serve you in an ugly way, for God's sake (and I mean that literally, not in a profane way), don't wear a Christian t-shirt or hand out tracts!   If you are a pastor and you treat people who serve you rudely, I would suggest that you find some other line of work.   As someone who works behind the counter, I would rather you keep your so-called Christianity to yourself if you're not going to live it.  This may seem harsh, but I've seen too much harm done by people who profess Christianity to not speak out about this.

Finally, a word to my non-Christian friends (and I really hope you are reading this).  I'm sorry for the way that some people who profess the name of Christ may have treated you in public.  That is not the way Jesus was.  Jesus loved everybody, and he saved his derisive comments for those who seemed to be religious on the outside, but on the inside he said they were like dead men's bones.  I would ask you not to reject Jesus and his teachings just because some of his so-called followers don't act like him.  It would be like saying all cars are bad because some cars break down.  Christianity works when it's applied.  When it's not lived-out, it's just pretty awful.

And that's the view from behind the counter.

Abolition and Abortion

William Wilberforce

I've been reading Eric Metaxas' masterful biography of William Wilberforce, Amazing Grace.  Wilberforce was the late 18th century/early 19th century British Member of Parliament who almost single-handedly brought an end to the British slave trade.  As a Christian MP, he devoted his life to this cause, and pursued it doggedly for almost twenty years until the abolition of the pernicious trade in 1807.  During those years, he actually feared for his life on a number of occasions  as those who opposed him and other abolitionists would go to no end to defend something that was actually indefensible.  Wilberforce and others courageously exposed the evils of the slave trade year after year.  They shined a light before the British public on the stomach-crawling conditions that the Africans were subjected to on the Middle Passage between Africa and the West Indies, as well as the horrific conditions that West Indian slaves were subjected to which actually made American slavery seem tame in comparison.

As I was reading the section in this book detailing the heart-breaking condition of the slaves on these ships, I couldn't help but think of another heart-wrenching situation that I've recently become acquainted with.  Like most people, I barely paid attention until recently of the accounts of the sadistic Philadelphia abortion clinic led by Dr. Kermit Gosnell.  His trial had actually been going on for some weeks before I read the courageous article in USA Today written by Kirsten Powers, which shamed the national media into covering a trial which should have been front page news.  The sickening fact is that in all likelihood hundreds of babies have been butchered outside the mother's womb in this clinic by "snipping" their spinal cords, which almost beheads the innocent children.  Other details that I've read are so sickening that I won't describe them here, but suffice it to say that it was a House of Horrors that had been allowed to flourish in Pennsylvania unregulated for well over a decade.   Since then, we've come to see more and more that the late-term abortions which pro-abortion forces want to convince us are exceedingly rare are not rare at all, and that infanticide is much more common than we dare imagined.

I see multiple parallels between the British abolition movement around the turn of the 19th century, the American abolition movement later in the 19th century, and the current pro-life movement:.

• Both the British and American abolition movements and the current pro-life movement were and are led by persons deeply committed to their Christian faith.  Movement leaders such as William Wilberforce, American Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, and current Pro-life leader Lila Rose, are informed by the Christian commitment to "Love your neighbor as yourself."  In each case, these zealots would go to any ethical end to bring to light the horrid practices they opposed.
• In each of these movements, effective use of current media was an influential tool in bringing to light injustice.  British abolitionists effectively used a chart (as shown on the right) which they had located
  on a slave ship to illustrate that even the legal number of slaves housed on a ship was

  

  Diagram Of A Slave Ship

   inhumane.  American abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison used print media as editor of the highly-influential newspaper "The Liberator" to further the cause of emancipation.  Today, Lila Rose of Live Action, which styles itself as "a new media movement dedicated to ending abortion and building a culture of life", has brought to life the inhuman practices of abortion clinics through it's effective use of hidden camera videos.  (Follow this link to a video of  an abortion doctor who glibly admits that they would not help a baby born alive from a botched abortion or this link to an a video of an abortion worker who advises a client to "flush it!" ).  
• In each case, those opposing the act of brutality, whether it be the slave trade, American slavery, or the killing of unborn (or even already born) children were at one time considered "out of the mainstream" (to use a modern phrase) of public opinion.  However, over time, as movement organizers shed light on the barbaric practices they opposed, they eventually gained majority support. In the case of today's pro-life movement, the pendulum is certainly swinging toward majority support, despite the fact that the national media is overwhelmingly pro-abortion. I believe as people are exposed more and more to the horrors of abortion facilities that Gosnell represents, that the pro-life argument will eventually carry the day.

In an 1813 before the British House of Commons, years after he had won the battle for abolition of the slave trade, William Wilberforce made these comments:

Christianity, he said, “assumes her true character… when she takes under her protection those poor degraded beings on whom philosophy looks down with disdain or perhaps with contemptuous condescension…. It was declared by its great Author as ‘Glad tidings to the poor,’ and… still delights… to succour the needy, to comfort the sorrowful, to visit the forsaken.”

Today's fight for the defenseless unborn who are being murdered every day echoes the fight of two centuries ago for the defenseless Africans who were then being enslaved and brutalized.  Whether the cause is abolition of slavery or abolition of abortion, the struggle today remains the same.

Want to read more?  Here's links to some of my more popular posts:
Reflections On 30 Years of Marriage-Part 1
My Take On "The Bible" Series
Things My Mom Taught Me 
A Colossal Failure