"This world of ours... must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect." Dwight D. Eisenhower

It's February 11, 2014 in this time zone and I welcome you once again to today's episode here on a Tuesday. I hope we never lose our flag waving patriotic spirit. Most of the countries represented at the Olympics are fervently behind their home teams. We should be also. At the same time, our system of government stands in stark contrast to many where people live under oppressive regimes. Yet, we should know that it's very easy to conclude an entire nation in the same breath along with their ruthless leaders. And, being who we are, we can come across as having a superior attitude. While we are said to be the only remaining super power, although I wonder about that sometimes, we have to be careful that our freedoms and privileges do not cause us to look down on the regular folks who make up the countries we compete against in these games. I read one Russian newspaper commentator who gave his point of view about how we often come off to others: "As for the Americans, they, in principle, are very dismissive to other countries' history, because they believe that there is only America that brings light to the world, and all the rest are barbarians that revolve around America and have to look the USA in the mouth and listen to every word the States says." I felt a little stung by these words. We can love our country and our way of life without demeaning others, especially the ordinary person, who, like ourselves only want what's best for them and their families.

I read that Russian comment on an internet site that has English translations of foreign newspapers. In another item, the recent leaked conversation between two of our top diplomats has been a source of embarrassment to our country's foreign policy program. The call itself included some sharp criticisms of those we are aligned with. Our State Department has decided to go after those they believe who leaked the cell phone call, the Russians. This all happened just as the Olympics were getting underway causing even more attention to be paid to it. The rest of the world is somewhat amused at the heated response from our country. After all, it has been the USA that has been in the news for months and months concerning our spying on nearly everyone on the planet. One writer said it appeared the Russians had already won the gold medal in the information leaking competition. They obviously see it as an example of us saying do as we say, not necessarily as we do.

Knowing that we all tend to see things through the lens of our own personal presuppositions should help us to do our best to get the facts before we leap to a conclusion. When we were in Scotland we ran into many people who sincerely thought that since we lived in Texas we should own and work a huge ranch. We were asked several times about why we were not wearing our boots and hats. How did they get that idea? At that time the TV show 'Dallas' was at the top of the heap and it was being beamed all over the world. Another great example is how our missionaries are changed as they go into a foreign land and work one on one with the people there. Often they find their preconceptions to have been faulty as they come to fully appreciate that within the human family, we all share equally in our sinful nature and in our need to know God and His provision of salvation through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the common bond we all share regardless of our skin color and language. Okay. That's my international report for the day, so stay tuned for something new which should be coming soon to a page near you. May God bless each one. Amen.     .... More later.