"The only difference between death and taxes is that death doesn't get worse every time Congress meets." Will Rogers

Thursday. Ready or not, here we come. Welcome. It's March 14, 2013 and I encourage you to make the best of your day, all of it. Okay. I know we are all in this together but it's hard sometimes to make sense out of how things go. Over 300,000 government employees are delinquent in paying their federal income taxes, to the tune of 3.5 billion dollars. And, there's more than 40 White House staffers who are behind with an average of $330,000 each. Okay. I'm not picking on these people but doesn't it make sense that not only should charity begin at home, but, also collection of taxes? I couldn't locate the total amount for all taxpayers who owe back taxes so I could compare, but, it still seems to me that if you are in charge of the government workforce, and you are responsible for collecting taxes, well, it looks like a reasonable place to start. It might just yield better results than trying to collect from children who sell lemonade and many of the other crazy things we've heard about over the years. It's not as if they don't know who these people are and where they live.

I am not slinging mud at anyone who is trying to pay off their tax debts. I am aware of a number of folks who have had judgments against them due to fraud or unscrupulous actions taken by their employees. I know one fellow we were in Church with for years who will be paying the rest of his life due to a dishonest bookkeeper who was misappropriating funds that should have gone for tax payments. Our friend fully realized, at the end of the day, that it was his business, and he was responsible. These kinds of things are horrible but understandable. It's the folks who cheat and dodge that makes me furious. Those are the ones that add to the burden of their fellow citizens who do try to obey the laws of the land. I've never been audited. Yet. It could happen any year and based on many folks I know that have been audited, it can be a very scary experience. And, we all know that we are capable of making a mistake. I would just hate to think that the enforcement people are more likely to get the average Joe as opposed to those within the government. Just saying......

I have to remind myself to remind you that pretty much everything I write comes under the category of opinion. Mine that is. This means that your interpretation of the facts could be different because of your personal experience, orientation, and other factors that contribute to your way of seeing things. I can hardly accept anything as being unbiased because every single solitary person reflects the sum total of much more than some straight down the middle stuff they have experienced in life. This gives me the opportunity once again to point out that we do have access to that which we know to be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I'm talking about the Word of God, the Holy Bible. I know there's many different ideas and thoughts about the Bible and surely that does lead to conflict and confusion. Yet, that doesn't mean the Bible is not true and it's our privilege to search out the truth God has preserved for us. God's truth comes with power. The Apostle Paul had this to say about his young helper Timothy: "And how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus." (2nd Timothy 3:15) And, based on the size of this paragraph, I think it best to shut it down for today. May God help each of us and may He also help our great country. Amen.   ...More later.