My Christmas of Blessing

Well, as I was sitting out in the backyard watching the sun set in the west, I thought it might be good to recount my blessings. I had a very blessed Christmas this year - materially so as well as relationally and spiritually. Here's what I am thankful for:
1. My relationship with the Lord of Creation. He is SO merciful to put up with me but I know I would be lost without His love and care.
2. My wonderful wife of twenty years in May of 07. She is my best friend - often times my only friend and a wonderful mother and partner. It is such a blessing to have so many shared values and perceptions about life, our world, and our marriage. She truly is my best half.
3. Wonderful parents and in-laws. You know, a guy just can't have too many mothers and fathers I think!
4. Wonderful sons. They are so cute and SO all-boy. They crack me up and drive me crazy all at the same time. I look forward to seeing the men they will become (and am working REALLY hard to help launch them successfully when their time comes - wish that would include lots of resources too - we'll see...).
5. Great extended families on both sides. I enjoy their company SO much - especially at holidays. I find it easy to get along with them (O.K., there are a couple on my side that can be a challenge at times :o)
6. A GREAT employer and boss. I must work in the nicest and most encouraging place with some of the planet's nicest folks. I truly love my boss and seek his counsel about a lot of things.
7. A great Pastor(s) and a good church.
8. A wonderful place to live with great landlords!
9. 2+ Nice cars that run!
10. Living in a great town and in a state with a mild climate (aggravating politics - but if it were perfect it wouldn't be earth).
11. Lots of good books to read!
12. Chances to do unusual and fun things once in a while - like dress up as some guy from a different time period and give lectures or ...whatever.

Well, I was also really blessed with wonderful Christmas gifts this year - I really got far more than I asked for or expected. It isn't always good to get so many gifts but once in a while.....it's GREAT! A quick list gives you some insight into my strange hodge-podge of interests that make me such a bizarre fellow.
1. Some great books - Plymouth in the Words of Her Founders, The New England Primer, Raising A Modern Day Knight (COOL book about helping sons become gentlemen), 7 Key Biblical Concepts violated by Dating (actually a good read - much to chew on!), Every Young Man's Battle and workbook, Tribe - A Warrior's Heart. I got a lot of reading material because my wife and I are trying to get a comprehensive strategy for helping raise our sons as Christian Gentlemen before they become teenage uckies!
2. Seasons 1 & 2 of House, the complete Star Trek Animated Series on DVD
3. A box of Amber Lyn Belgium Chocolates that are better for diabetics than regular chocolate - to die for!
4. A steel replica of a Roman Centurion's Helmet w/ crest and Roman sandals.
5. A hand carved spiked Mace (mostly ceremonial) also for re-enacting.
6. A nice shirt
7. Lots of gift cards, yummy treats (including 3 blueberry pie coupons!), coffee mugs and Christmas Tree decorations from my kids and students.
8. A much larger than usual Christmas bonus that allowed me to give some really nice gifts to my wife, sons and family. It was fun to give a little more generously than we usually can. Wow!
Gosh - when you write it all down it sure looks like the great haul that it is! All the more to be thankful for!

I came across this post by Terence P. Jeffrey on Human Events Online. I LOVE what is has to say - I always appreciate succinct summaries of positions and world-views. I think it is helpful. Please read the article below and reflect on how you feel about those issues. Thanks! - EO
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Ten Principles of Conservatism
by Terence P. Jeffrey
Posted Dec 20, 2006

As a very political year approaches an end, and a new presidential election cycle looms, it’s a good time for conservatives to step back from partisan politics and reflect on their cause.

What do conservatives believe? Here are 10 principles worth pondering.

1. God’s Law Governs Nations as Well as Men.

The Ten Commandments should not only be enshrined in our courthouses, they should be engraved in our hearts and minds as guides to all behavior, public and private. As the Founders acknowledged in the Declaration of Independence, laws and policies that violate the natural law are abuses of government power that must be resisted and reversed.

2. Life Is the First God-Given Right

It’s always wrong to deliberately take an innocent human life. When this principle is abridged, violence escalates. Thus we have aborted 47 million unborn babies in the past three decades, begun to accept euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide, and stand at the threshold of cloning human beings for the specific purpose of killing them.

3. Marriage and Family Come Before the State and Deserve Its Protection

The marriage of one man and one woman is the natural foundation of all human society, and the means by which children ought to be brought into the world and taught the basic values of our civilization. Government has a duty to recognize and protect the family and must not grant alternative relationships the same status and privileges.

4. Freedom of Conscience is the Soul of Liberty

Understanding that freedom of conscience is at the heart of liberty, the Framers protected freedom of religion and assembly in the 1st Amendment. Movements to force the Boy Scouts to accept homosexual scout masters, or to compel religious individuals or organizations to distribute birth control or abortion drugs against their beliefs, directly attack these freedoms.

5. Private Property is the Servant of Freedom

The more that individuals, families and businesses can acquire and control the goods necessary to sustain and advance themselves, the more autonomy they will have from the state and others who may wish to unjustly restrict their freedom. The free and responsible use of private property tends to create greater wealth and greater freedom for greater numbers of people.

6. Government Dependency is the Seed of Tyranny

The more that individuals, families and businesses are dependent on the state for the goods necessary to sustain and advance themselves, the less autonomy they will have from the state and others who may wish to unjustly restrict their freedom. This is why expanding the welfare state is bad, and Social Security personal retirement accounts, Health Savings Accounts and school choice are good.

7. The Constitution Means What It Says

Believing in the God-given rights of man and understanding the imperfect nature of human beings, the Framers crafted a Constitution designed to protect the former from the latter. Many of the problems in U.S. government would be resolved if the President, Congress and Courts limited themselves and each other to the authority the Constitution actually grants them.

8. Taxes Are Justified Only to Fund Necessary Government Spending

A massive and complex tax code has become a powerful weapon politicians can use to pressure citizens to behave as the politicians, or the interest groups that support the politicians, wish. The correct function of taxation is to equitably collect only that revenue needed to fund the legitimate activities of a constitutionally limited government.

9. National Defense Is Just That

The first duty of the federal government is to defend the American people against foreign enemies. While advancing freedom in the world is good in itself—and, where it prudently can be done, would advance the interests of the United States--ultimately, the mandate for our national leaders is to use whatever moral means they can to carve out that path in our relations with foreign powers that is most likely to lead to enhanced security, prosperity and freedom for this nation.

10. We Should Strive to Give Our Children a Better Country

America is more than just an expanse of territory or a set of laws. It is a culture, whose art, architecture, journalism, music, movies, television, schools and universities, should reflect and reinforce the traditional values that made this country great. We owe this to our children, who will build the America of tomorrow on the foundation of the America we teach them to love today.
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Inequitable treatement of religion is SO wrong! Something really should be done about it!

This is something that has really "chapped my hide" for several years now. Thank goodness others in the media are finally talking about it and seem determined to do something about it. Unfortunately, there are only a few and the rest are quite happy with the inequitable way religions are treated - they helped create it! What am I talking about? I am talking about how every other religion in the world - no matter how crazy, vile or violent - gets favored hands-off status. Except Christianity. Bash Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and you are a labeled a bigot nut-job. But revile and blaspheme Christianity and - hey who cares?

Everyone is SO concerned about offending Muslims these days. But noone has EVER cared about offending Christians. They blaspheme Jesus, the cross, pastors, churches, the Bible, church-goers - whatever strikes their reprobate fancy and - hey, it's O.K. What? You object - TOUGH! But let someone do ANYTHING that muslims (or others) find offensive and LOOKOUT! You are guilty of hate-mongering and noone is outraged when muslisms around the world riot, burn and murder Christians in retaliation. "Well, you provoked them," is what you basically hear. WHAT!! That is SO insane AND so inequitable AND so un-American in sentiment - a land that was founded on equality and tolerance for ALL religious expression save those practices that infringed on the rights of others.

I remember, not long ago, when Christians were so serious and active about ending abortion that a few nutjobs torched a few abortion clinics and actually shot an abortionist. Now, this was MUCH smaller in scale than the riots and murders of 2006 by muslims (that doesn't make it right of course!). But our government and the news media turned on Christianity and made all sorts of threats and arrests. Christian anti-abortion organizations were shadowed by the FBI, crippled with RICO actions (created to stop the Mafia) and judges felt no qualms about violating the constitutional rights of Christians in order to protect abortion. It was quite a witch hunt - fury and indignation abounded. Christians, almost to a man, completely condemned and disavowed such kinds of illegal activities IMMEDIATELY - LOUDLY - AND REPEATEDLY. It didn't stop the witch hunt.

But what happened when a Danish cartoon outraged muslism and they rioted, torched, beat and murdered? NOTHING! Not one thing. No arrests, no indignation - nada - just a whimper and a looking the other way. HOW CRAZY IS THAT!
If you want to see a good summary of Muslim misdeeds in 2006 -
check this article out: http://michellemalkin.com/archives/006585.htm
And where is the loud, immediate and repeated condemnation of such heinous acts by "so called" peace loving muslims? Seems like it is always buried on the back page if you even see it at all.

Every once in a while someone asks me why Christianity is so reviled while other, far more objectionable religions, are given protected status? I have to say that there isn't any rational reason - but the Bible does shed light on it. The bible says that the Light and Truth came into the world, but the world loved darkness instead. Christianity and Judaism - which both reflect the Light and Truth of our Creator, are almost universally reviled but mankind loves the other false religions of the world precisely because they love darkness rather than light. Ever wonder why Hinduism - which is SO (supposedly) tolerant of other religions, becomes violent and intolerant towards Christian missionaries? Because those in darkness (who don't know they are in darkness) instinctively love darkness and reject the Light of the Gospel of Salvation in Jesus Christ.

SO, as a Christian, I understand the inequitable treatment but as an American living with a Constitution that makes such inquity illegal - I find it intolerable that people practice it so brazenly and aren't punished for doing so. It makes me ashamed of our country - that we have fallen SO far from our founding ideals. I would eagerly vote for and help elect someone who I thought could and would honestly restore such ideals. Without a serious return to our founding principles, I don't know how much longer America will remain America.

Some Time Off! Hooray?

Well, it's been a while since my last post - sorry! You know how the whirlwind gets cranked up to insanity speed during the holidays. Well, the last Christmas musical is over (1 for work and 1 at church). They both went really well. My involvement was very doable - it was just the time required. The kids were involved in both musicals and did a super job - cute as buttons too! I had a second laptop die out from under me recently - how dare I try to upgrade my anti-virus software! Both Trend Micro and McAfee really let me down - in fact, they both suck pretty bad in my opinion right now. Trend micro started it all w/ a free upgrade offer that I finally succumbed to. But you have to uninstall the old version first! So after 8 hours of trying to download the new version finally produced nothing - I was left without ANY protection. Their normally helpful support line was completely useless so I gave up and went out and bought McAfee at a local store. It didn't load too well and I had to do it 2 or 3 times. It seems slow and a little unstable. Finally, it crashed and locked up my whole system. I can't even restart in Safe Mode! But because I said "I accept" McAfee won't take any responsibility NOR can I even talk or email someone w/ the company w/out paying more than I paid to initially purchase the software. They wrote the book on highway robbery! They totally suck bilgewater!
SO, screw all this- I'll just use my Apple laptop from work for a while. With only about 100 known virsuses written to infect Apple computers, most Apple and Mac users I know don't even have antivirus software. I am not too comfortable doing that but I won't be buying McAfee's Apple version that's for sure! They suck!
So now, with our Christmas shopping done I now get to try to work ALOT on the credential class I have to take on teaching reading. Sorry, but I cannot make myself stay interested in the class. I NEVER, EVER want to teach reading - UGGGHHH!!
SO, though the 2 weeks off for Christmas is cool - I sense it will be over all too soon and I will not have had much time to enjoy myself too much. Maybe I can spend an hour at the gym each day this way though! That's good!