Travel Light but Travel Right

We just got home from visiting family in a neighboring (contiguous) state.  Round trip, we traveled by car about 1,700 miles, and you can add another 100 miles for driving around after we arrived at our destination. It was a blessing to see our children and grandchildren again.  Due to the distance involved, we do not have the opportunity to visit that often. 

We travel by car in most cases.  Why?  We would need to travel for about 265 miles to be able to board a passenger train.  The train would not depart until about 1:30 am (01:30 hours).  Then, the nearest place we could debark would still be about 130 miles from our destination.  So, we would have to rent a car to get there, rather than impose on family to pick us up. 

Today's price to fly would be about $1,330.00 round trip.  We would drive about 40 miles to the nearest airport, and we would need to travel another 40 miles by car to our destination after landing.  If you factor in baggage fees, a rental car, and other miscellaneous expenses, flying would cost several hundred dollars more than driving and staying in a couple of motels.  Of course, flying provides more time at the destination, and less time traveling – if you are on that kind of schedule.  These days, we are not.

We drive a full-size sedan with a small 4.6 L (281 cu. in.) V-8 engine.  It gets about 20 mpg (actual) locally, and about 23 to 24 mpg (estimated) on the highway.  These days, you can’t buy a car like that unless it is used.  It is getting older, but it is paid for.  The expense to fix it when it breaks is less than making payments on a new car.  With inflation running wild, lower- and middle-income people have to be careful about how they spend money … unlike certain elected officials in Washington, D.C. 

So – what’s the point?  The point is that this is reality - for Americans West of the Atlantic Seaboard, and even more so for people who live in areas like the Desert Southwest, the Great Basin, and the Mountain West.  Further, it is a reality that people like Bernie Sanders, Chuckie Schumer, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Al Gore, and Jennifer Granholm do not understand - and do not even care about.  To them, we are fly-over America … an area populated by ignorant rubes who do not know what is in their own best interest. 

I beg to differ.  I will go to see my grandkids as often as I can.  I will drive.  When gasoline gets more expensive, I will do without other things to be able to afford it. 

It looks like a lot of other people are doing the same thing.  I do not have a scientific count, but it looked like traffic was just as heavy as it used to be everywhere we went.  Someone once said that “America is a nation on wheels.”  It is clear that the Green New Deal crowd knows little about America, does not like what they do know, and wants to force all of us to become what they want us to be.  All I can say is NO. 

It is clear that the Biden Administration and the other Green New Dealers in Washington are trying to force the American driving public to convert to electric cars.[1]   In my opinion, electric vehicles (EV’s) should, at best, be an interim, transition technology.  There are better alternatives, like hydrogen-fueled vehicles, when we develop the ability to produce and distribute the fuel economically. 

How I am supposed to make the monthly payment on a new car that I do not want, since I am retired and on a fixed income?  Further, estimates vary on the cost to replace the battery in one of those things.  One manufacturer’s EV has a MSRP of $31,500.00 to $37,495.00, and they offer an 8 year/100,000-mile warranty on their EV’s batteries.  For many Americans, that means the owner will be responsible to pay if their EV needs a new battery after about 5 years. One source lists the price of that same company’s EV battery at $15,734.29.[2] That is about half of the original sticker price.  Is that what you want?  I have other spending priorities in an inflationary economy where milk costs $3+ per gallon. 

Our fearless leaders just don’t get it.  “Middle Class Joe” Biden is a wealthy man.[3] Do you think he, or his cronies worry about what things cost when they try to make gasoline so expensive that people must buy electric cars to get around?  Hardly! 

I’m looking forward to our next road trip in our big, heavy, safe, and comfortable gasoline-powered car.  President Biden’s high gasoline prices can’t stop me.  

Remember how things were before Biden.  Vote to return our country to sanity in November.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[1] https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/05/biden-pushes-for-evs-to-make-up-40percent-or-more-of-us-auto-sales-by-2030.html

 

[2] https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1110881_how-much-is-a-replacement-chevy-bolt-ev-electric-car-battery

 

[3] https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/18/joe-biden-2020-money-wealth-1221934

 

 

Haters?

The day before yesterday, I saw a car in a parking lot with writing in the back window.  I guess it was written in the kind of paint people use to cheer on their favorite team, wish this year’s graduating class success, or announce their marriage.  Instead, what was written in the window was angry, hateful, and profane.  Mainly, it said that religious people should keep their religion out of public policy. 

Tough subject. 

The writing in the window said that America is not “the land of the free,” because the religious values of some of the people are being forced on all of the people.  It was pretty clear that the unspoken issue was freedom of choice regarding abortion. 

I would argue that America is not “the land of the free” unless all Americans are free to advocate for what they believe to be “the right thing to do” - whether the values they support are based on the tenants of their religion, politics, or “freedom from religion.”  Some religious Americans think that God is the ultimate moral authority.  Others recognize no moral authority greater than the self. 

In “the land of the free,” all of us have the right to advocate for our values in the “marketplace of ideas” - peacefully and without hatred and vitriol.  Respecting the rights of others, we should be allowed to try to persuade others to agree with our way of thinking - without being threatened or disrespected.  All Americans must be permitted to help create a just and humane society. 

In a country that is truly the “land of the free,” there is no excuse for attempts to threaten or intimidate.  We can have spirited debate, but we all must realize that nothing will get fixed until we are all willing to move toward each other; rather than away from or against each other. 

Recently, there have been pro-choice demonstrations near the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington D.C. and near the Justices’ residences.  People have the right to lawfully demonstrate, but attempting to pressure or intimidate the court while they are deliberating on a case is illegal.  The demonstrators should have the self-discipline to voluntarily locate their protests where the peace and dignity of the Supreme Court is not violated. 

There have also been demonstrations near Christian churches.  Roman Catholic churches appear to have been singled out because of the strong anti-abortion stance the Roman Catholics have taken.  The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gives Roman Catholics and other Christians the right to “free exercise” of their religious beliefs.  They must be allowed to do so without crowds of protestors interfering with access to their churches. 

I was saddened by what was written on the back window of that car.  My desire for America is that we can rise above that kind if hatred and treat each other with dignity and kindness. 

Christ spoke to us about the world’s intolerance, however, so I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise: 

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.  If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.  Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.  But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.  If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.  Whoever hates me hates my Father also.  If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father.  But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’ 

“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.  And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.  (John 15:18-27 ESV) * 

* https://biblehub.com/esv/john/15.htm 

Christians, let’s pray that the Holy Spirit will strengthen us, so that we can be faithful witnesses for Jesus.  In the power of the Spirit, we can have the courage to lovingly declare God’s Word in the face of opposition from angry people.

 

 

God is Sovereign

Psalm 11

For the choir director: A psalm of David.

 

 

I trust in the LORD for protection.

So why do you say to me,

 

“Fly like a bird to the mountains for safety!

The wicked are stringing their bows

and fitting their arrows on the bowstrings.

They shoot from the shadows

at those whose hearts are right.

The foundations of law and order have collapsed.

What can the righteous do?”

 

But the LORD is in his holy Temple;

the LORD still rules from heaven.

He watches everyone closely,

examining every person on earth.

The LORD examines both the righteous and the wicked.

He hates those who love violence.

He will rain down blazing coals and burning sulfur on the wicked,

punishing them with scorching winds.

For the righteous LORD loves justice.

The virtuous will see his face. (NLT) *

 

 

*  https://biblehub.com/nlt/psalms/11.htm

 

 

 

Memorial Day 2022

Memorial Day is here again.  Many of us will enjoy a three-day weekend.  Vacations will begin or end.  Ceremonies will commemorate graduation from high schools and colleges.  There will be stockcar races, and everything from pajamas to boats will go on sale.  Have a barbeque.  We all could use a break.  There is nothing wrong with that.  Our war dead gave their lives to secure our way of life, and they would want us to enjoy it. 

Please remember to take a little time, however, to reflect on our war dead; those who died to make us a free people.  Honor their memory by zealously guarding the freedoms they died for.

 

Crossing the Bar

by 

Alfred Lord Tennyson

 

Sunset and evening star,

And one clear call for me!

And may there be no moaning of the bar,

When I put out to sea,

 

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,

Too full for sound and foam,

When that which drew from out the boundless deep

Turns again home.

 

Twilight and evening bell,

And after that the dark!

And may there be no sadness of farewell,

When I embark;

 

For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place

The flood may bear me far,

I hope to see my Pilot face to face

When I have crost the bar. *

 

* https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45321/crossing-the-bar

Water Into Wine

The Biblical account of the miracle Jesus performed at the Marriage in Cana has been the subject of diverse interpretations among Christians; especially in the United States where many denominations advocate for, or require, that Christians totally abstain from drinking alcoholic beverages.  It is clear that many Biblical references to alcoholic beverages discourage the abuse of alcohol in excess. (Proverbs 20:1, 21:17, 23:19-21, and 23:29-35; Isaiah 5:11-12 and 22; Habakkuk 2:5; 1 Timothy 3:1-12; Titus 1:5-9; 1Peter 4:1-6; and many more) 

Yet, it is also apparent that Jesus drank wine, during His earthly ministry: 

For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’  The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’  Yet wisdom is justified by all her children.” (Luke 7:33-35 ESV) * (See also Matthew 11:18-19) 

I am not a trained linguist or translator.  All I know is what I read in the English language translations of the Bible that are available to me.  Some well-meaning preachers have tried to make a case for abstinence by pointing out that in Biblical times people often drank wine, rather than water, because the water was not potable.  They have rightly said that the wine in those days varied in alcohol content, and that the common, everyday wine contained very little alcohol.  They maintain, therefore, the wine Jesus drank, and that resulted from His miracle at Cana, was not intoxicating. 

The scripture says that His enemies accused Jesus of being a drunkard, and of keeping bad company.  We can infer from this that the wine He was drinking was fermented.  It also says that the wine the wedding guests drank in Cana had the well-known effect of making the drinker’s taste less discriminating, due to intoxication.  The master of ceremonies praised the wine Jesus made for being better than the wine that had been served previously.  It seems logical, then, to conclude that the wine Jesus made contained alcohol – all 120 gallons of it: 

On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.  Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples.  When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”  And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”  His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 

Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.  Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim.  And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it.  When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.”  This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him. 

After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days. (John 2:1-12 ESV) * 

I have heard some well-meaning members of alcohol-free denominations bemoan the miracle at Cana, and wonder why Jesus did it, because it makes it more difficult to make their case for abstinence.  Respectfully, I say: 

First, we must not try to bend scripture to prove a point, no matter how important we think it is. We must, also, be careful that we do not put roadblocks in the way of people who are trying to find their way to Jesus. (Luke 11:46; Matthew 23:4 and 13-15).  Last but not least, Jesus is sinless, and it is blasphemy to call anything He does a sin. 

While Jesus’ enemies falsely accused Him of being a “winebibber,” there is no record of His ever drinking to excess.  He certainly never consumed distilled spirits like whiskey, vodka, or gin. 

By performing this miracle, Jesus revealed His glory, and as a result His disciples believed in Him. It also seems to me that the wine Jesus created at the wedding in Cana illustrates the superiority of the New Covenant to the Old Covenant. The Old Covenant was based on earning God’s favor by obedience to God’s law as given through Moses.  The New Covenant promises eternal life in the very presence of God through faith in Jesus Christ.  Clearly, the New Covenant is better than the Old Covenant. 

Again, the whole wisdom of God, as given to us in the Bible, is that we must not drink to excess or give our lives over to the control of alcohol.  It is not a matter of whether we are in control of our lives, or alcohol is.  That misses the truth, which is that it is a matter of whether we give Jesus control our lives, rather than alcohol. 

To be clear, addiction operates like a disease.  Some people can expose themselves to the contagion without succumbing to the disease.  For addicts, however, their addiction to psychoactive substances is chronic, progressive, and fatal.  For the addicted, controlled drinking is not an option.  Rather, it is a death sentence. 

Within the family of believers, we need to be tolerant of each other.  Remember Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, Chapter 14.  One person may believe that their liberty in Christ allows them a beer or two with dinner at their favorite restaurant.  Another believer’s conscience may convict them for having a glass of wine at a friend’s house.  For the believers whose conscience condemns them, using alcohol is a sin – because they believe it is a sin and do it anyway.  The believer who thinks it is permissible must not try to pressure the one whose conscience forbids drinking into “relaxing a little” or “loosening up a bit.”  On the other hand, the one who thinks Christians shouldn’t drink must not condemn the person who thinks it is okay.  Above all, the Christian who drinks must never do it in circumstances where, by doing so they may cause the brother or sister whose faith is weaker to fall away from the Lord.  Jesus died for that person, and we must not destroy their faith by disillusioning them. 

In modern times, we have a new kind of addiction to deal with … illegal drugs.  I worked in addiction treatment programs and the criminal justice system for over 21 years.  I worked in human services for another seven years.  I have seen firsthand the devastation that drug abuse causes in the lives of individuals, communities, and nations.  I have detailed knowledge of the extreme cruelty, barbarity, and lawlessness of the criminal gangs and cartels that, to our shame, U.S. drug abuse is funding in Mexico and Central and South America.  Further, these criminal elements are heavily involved in the current illegal migration across our Southern border, and they have expanded their activities to the United States.  Believers and nonbelievers alike, please do not be a part of this evil. 

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit … making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

(Ephesians 5:15-21 ESV) * 

As we are led by the Holy Spirit, each of us must choose what we do and allow in our lives.  Our bodies are the Temple of the Holy Spirit.  Let’s not do anything to it that Jesus wouldn’t do. 

Remember that the Lord said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”    (John 13:34-35 ESV) * Brethren, please be at peace with one another. 

 

* https://biblehub.com/

Duele Mucho

I filled up my car with gasoline yesterday.  The price of the gas that I use was exactly $2.00 more per gallon than it was when President Joe Biden was sworn in. 

At the grocery store, a gallon of milk costs about $1.34 more than it used to.  A 45 oz. tub of the margarine we buy is up by over $2.20.  Even the ground beef that we buy from our local meat pack is about $1.35 per pound higher than it was. 

I am all in favor of multi-variate analysis.  I understand that all sorts of variables are at play driving higher prices for the average American consumer.  Fundamentally, there is always more than one reason for things.  However, the fact remains that the radical policy changes imposed by the Biden administration and excessive government spending are the prime movers in the inflation that is impoverishing us all.  Honestly, I don’t know how people with kids are making it. 

Fellow citizens!  How do you screw up baby formula?  When the Abbott formula factory shut down, why didn’t some genius figure out that removing up to 40 percent of the baby formula from the market would cause shortages?  Why wasn’t an emergency plan put in place immediately to help mitigate the shortfall?  Incredible! 

I have news for all who will listen.  It doesn’t have to be this way.  Everybody who is eligible to vote must turn out to vote the Democrats, Progressives, Liberals, Socialists, and their ilk out of office in November and again in 2024.  Only close elections can be influenced by special interest groups and by eccentric billionaires like George Soros and Mark Zuckerberg.  If there is a landslide for conservative candidates, the elections cannot be manipulated.  If we take victory for granted or treat it as a forgone conclusion, we will lose.  Then we will be reduced to poverty.  To paraphrase Winston Churchill, Socialism seeks to make us all equal – equally poor.

Change

A total eclipse of the moon was supposed to be visible from where I live last night.  One of my hobbies is “stargazing,” and I was looking forward to seeing it.  There was no rain in the forecast, and I hoped for good viewing conditions.  In the late afternoon, however, we got a thunderstorm.  It stayed overcast into the evening.  It cleared off a little, but not enough for a protracted look at the eclipse.  I got to see it for about 15 to 20 minutes, which I am grateful for. 

Weather reports in the Mountain West are not always very accurate.  People make jokes about it.  “If I was wrong at work as often as the weatherman, I would get fired.” “Don’t like the weather around here? Give it an hour, and it will change.”  To be fair to the weatherman, the weather is always changing … except when it doesn’t. 

One thing we can be certain about is that change is inevitable.  It is necessary if things are going to improve, however, there are risks.  Change may also make things worse.  Opposing change is futile.  It is going to happen, whether we like it or not.  We just need to try to support only those changes which promise to be beneficial. 

Sometimes, change is necessary when the choices we have made turn out to be mistakes.  We may need to return to the way things were before the mistake was made, or we may need to try a different alternative.  The key is to have the courage to admit our mistakes, take responsibility for the consequences, and to do what is necessary to fix it.  It is very difficult for most of us to own our bad judgement. 

Are you tired of your style of living and the wreckage in your life it is causing?  Are you ready for a change?  Accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord.  Give Him control, and He will change everything.

 

You gotta take a step across the line
Let Jesus fill your heart and mind
I can show you where to look
But you've got to seek to find
You got to take a step across the line[1]

 

 

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[1] https://genius.com/Don-francisco-step-across-the-line-lyrics

Don Francisco – Forgiven Album