Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Welcome to the Weather Game where your guess is as good as the experts.

Hello again and welcome. It's Tuesday, June 26, 2012, and my neck is tired from watching the weather predictions on that storm named Debby. It's going across Florida so no need to worry. Wait a minute. It might just turn left. Hold on a second. We think it is now heading due north. Stay tuned. Even more confusing was trying to make sense out of the projection models. It looked like our little Madi's attempts to play connect the dots. I would say something about it having a lady's name and making up her mind but that's not appropriate in today's culture, therefore, I won't say it. Why don't you folks just go ahead and prepare, just in case? Well, that would be a reasonable suggestion but then again we would be a part of the 5% instead of the 95% who wait, and we always like to be with the group. Plus, we had teenagers in our home for four days and to tell you the truth they don't think too highly of food supply inventory. Now don't get me wrong. These kids are wonderful but they are teenagers and while they don't mind having an inventory, keeping it is not a part of their DNA. I have really tried hard to remember what kind of snacks we had when I was their age. Stuff from the garden. Maybe some cookies now and then. No microwave, therefore, that wipes out about 75% of the snacks they like. Maybe that's why I weighed 125 and the wife weighed 85 when we married. For us, there wasn't any reason to stand and look into the fridge.

Most everyone on the globe saw the video of the older lady bus monitor who was berated by some horrible middle school kids. Those kids need special attention. Sadly, that bus moniotor obviously had no authority even though she was on the bus to help maintain order. I am glad people were outraged. I do hope the parents take appropritate disciplanary action. As to the death threats against those boys. How sad. One 13 year old has received over 1,000 threatening text messages including one that said they had taken his family hostage. The police had to respond to make sure everyone was okay. These kids need to be taught some respect but out of control boys on a bus does not constitute a case worthy of the death penalty. I am also happy for this lady if all the money that has been pledged does come in. This incident is an all too familiar example of the coarseness that exists in our society today. Meanwhile, after a panel viewed the video, I found it sickening that one notable political pundit commented that while he felt sorry for this lady he believed she received nothing less than what President Obama gets all the time. He went on to say that many of the people standing up for this older lady were the very ones spewing hatred and malice against the president. How he would know that is anyone's guess. But, how in heaven's name could you turn that bus incident into something about the president? It not only demeans the plight of this lady but it also causes people to throw up their hands in disgust. No wonder people are turned off to politics in this country.

Now as to why we have bus monitors who have no power or authority, well, that too reflects the times we are living in. We see it in every area of life. Yet, we know that ultimately, God and His truth will prevail. How can we respond to the environment that surrounds but seems to be mired in the gutter? We can live above it all, with God's help. We can teach our children, and bring them up in the love and admonition of the Lord. (Ephesians 6:4) We can also pray for our nation and for our leaders. That's right. We can pray for leaders that we did not vote for. I'm not talking about praying against them but rather praying for them and their families. We can pray that they would lead in a way that would honor God and uphold His principles. When the Apostle Paul instructed the local assembly in Rome, to pray for and supprt their government, he was talking about Rome with all of its corruption laden tentacles. We can't change things, but we certainly know the One who can. The Bible is replete with instances where unbelieving kings did God's bidding as they went about doing business as they saw fit. Yes, it is easy to sit back and be critical as we lament the ways of the world, however, we can do much more than that. We can live in the way we believe God would have us to live, and we can constantly call upon Him to help. That's much better than getting real good at complaining. Me too. Amen.   ...More later.

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