Monday, March 30, 2015

My Trip Through the Salon; Priceless

With all the craziness of our world and feeling still very tired from the last few days, we are blessed to have all five grand kids with us today and overnight. First, it is amazing how they can change individually and in how they interact with each other in such a short period of time.  Like we say, "they are growing up" but they growing up loving each other and loving Grammy and Poppy.    The girls, Bella and Gracie, have always liked to give me a new hair-do and a good fingernail cleaning with Gracie, of course, assuming the Boss Hawg role which has been perfectly accepted as the way it is; it's all good!  However, it has been a few months since all three of my girls joined forces to create what I will call "The BellaGracieHopie Salon" and I got to be their first paying customer. Film to follow let me tell you.
 
So with ISIL trudging through Iraq and Syria, Yemen exploding, planes crashing, police hating getting worse, societal values eroding, I threw all caution to the wind after supper when Gracie and her posse came to me to negotiate a package deal for cash, of course. So, I decided to do some business education as we worked through the business process of Supply and Demand, Equilibrium (price point) and time / space delivery systems. It was a project! So here is the package contracted for the physical improvement in looks and soft skin of one very proud Poppy; that would be me.
 
For $2 for each of the team of Gracie, Boss Hawg, Bella, wanted to be Boss Hawg, and the new servant to the process, Ms Hopie, our resident African, the project began with Gracie marshaling all the necessary equipment of towels, Qtips, cups for the warm water, water, brushes combs, lotion, rubber bands and do-dads for my new hair-do.  THEN I was requested to enter the salon, to lay across my bed on my back. I was coached in how to position my neck to the edge of the bed so the angle of the massage water, warm of course, would flow from my massaged head onto three levels of towels so not to wet the hardwood floor. It was a masterpiece in coordination. I was proud!
 
So with Boss Hawg delegating the work, assignment of specific tasks to each of her posse including herself, Poppy in place, laying on my stomach with head hanging off the bed with neck hurting, the one hour clock was triggered. The terms of the work:  $2 for each worker / girl for 60 minutes of head, back, tummy massage, finger and toe nail washing, arm and knee-down lotioning,  face massage with warm towel, more fingernail washing with Qtips, of course, and last but not least, the planting of the do-dads rubber banded into my wet hair that had been brushed, combed, washing, dried, combed and styled about eight times; a picture of perfection with all the orange and purple and blue thingies sticking out of my head in all directions. Boss Hawg, asking for my feedback, listened intently and thanked me for the "privilege of serving me tonight .."  Priceless, right?
 
Now it is time to figure out the money distribution for the three girls which turned into a now ongoing discussion with Boss Hawg since "Bella took a long break" and "Hopie really was not doing her job too well,"  all in another location of the house.  Wait, Boss Hawg has just handed me a hand written contract for price distribution proposal I guess I need to read.  Thrown under the bus!?
 
So the negotiation of price or labor wage distribution will continue, they are huddling now as the three amigos to hit me up for more I am quite sure, waiting on Grammy to arrive to sweeten the pot by one US dollar.  It's going to be fun but I tell you what it has been for the last hour for me ... An amazing journey with three precious young ladies that were focusing their sole attention of making me look and feel better. THAT is called P R I C E L E S S  where I came from!
 
Oh, and during that sixty minute period I got to talk to each of them quietly about life, what they love, what they will be when they grow up, if I can come to their wedding, how much they love Jesus, if they want me to sing at their wedding, will Hopie by the flower girl both Grace and Bella's wedding, etc, etc.!  Have had some wonderful one hour blocs in my life but have to say this last hour in the salon is ranking up there with the top one or two in my lifetime.  I can hardly smile writing this for wanting to cry in how wonderful they have been, together with Poppy. So blessed!

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Bizarre

That is a term I rarely use for it connotes a state of aberrant, unreal, unsavory behaviors and actions.  Today we see and now learn of the intentional crashing of the German jetliner apparently intending to kill all 150 on board. We see Saudi Arabia now running bombing missions over Yemen. The flames of racism in America rage more hotly only drowned out currently with the terrible news of the airline debacle but give it another 24 hour news cycle and it will re-emerge.  All the while the more concerning matter for me is the POTUS / CONGRESS epic debacle and I still find in some sick way, fearful, at times humorous, but all the time a waste of time and taxpayer monies or even more borrowed monies from nations that like us less each year.  Dealing with Iran, which I consider the serpent of the Middle East is being allowed to more deeply dominate the Shia-led Middle East against Sunnis --- why is that?
 
You know, like somebody told me once, it is what it is! So, there you have it, it simply is what it is.  It is not my intent in this blog to bang the drum of fear and worry or cast dispersions on leadership even though it is so tempting and so much to select from.  Better, during choir practice last night, I found myself more than usual really ingesting the meaning of the lyrics as we lead into the wonder of the Easter season via music with our choir.  
 
Easter is not about eggs or candy or new clothes but about a resurrection of a Man that came to this earth, lived a short life, ministered but a very few years, baffled all that knew him, saw him, experienced him including his earthly parents.  But reading the Bible through page after page from Genesis 1:1, we are now in Luke chapter 5, the intricate piecing of God's Will from  Genesis 1 on through the Old Testament is simply amazing as you realize more than ever the master plan God has for his people.  Why is that important? It is vital to realize that the plan is still unfolding and that God is truly in charge of all the craziness so why should we that claim Christ as our Savior fret and worry about the world around us, right? Absolutely, said he!
 
As we enter the Easter season, there is so much evidence of Satan's ploys and handiwork all about us in society, in our churches, in our leadership, in our businesses and certainly in our government.  Finding ourselves in the age of Toleration meaning everything and everyone must be tolerated regardless of actions and philosophies fundamentally beckons the fact that there are no longer absolutes. As many of you have heard me say and read from me, Right is Right and Wrong is Wrong and no amount of Wrong will ever, EVER, make a Wrong, Right!  The breadth and depth of Wrong which is deemed acceptable, encouraged, forced legally, etc is simply abominable to me in our nation.  Women marrying women and then seeking artificial insemination to raise a child in that aberrant setting is something I still cannot get my mind around. That is just one of far too many examples of loss of societal mores and values that are now deemed right and proper.
 
Here is all I know!  I know that I have trusted my life on this earth and after this life to a God that loves me.  I know life is too good to be squandered and wasted.  Like the song says, I serve a rise Savior, he's in the world today. I know that he is living no matter what men may say. I see his hand of mercy, I hear his voice of cheer AND JUST THE TIME I NEED HIM he's always near!  Let that lyric from the Bible through the talent of a song writer many years ago wash you this day.
 
I wish each of you a Happy Easter and never forget what the Easter is about; Death and RESURRECTION!  Listen to the Hallelujah Chorus in the next few days and really listen to the words in addition to the majestic sounds of the music.

Friday, March 20, 2015

Sir, I Just Do Not Understand; Help Me, Please!

A few days ago after taking a full day, well, most of a day, on a news fast, I turned on CNN last evening before going to bed and within fifteen minutes of watching, I was yet again brought to the harsh reality of how interconnected and torn our global village really has become.  For me at the core of this new normal is what I believe is the misdirection of the United States for it, we, have been the citadel of strength, decision making, strength projection and protector of the world for nearly eight decades.  Given that as backdrop, I decided to write Obama via his whitehouse.gov a short letter expressing my concern and frustration that has been generated under his leadership a couple of days earlier. I post it next for it the created many people that like the way the case is made.  I have not yet heard from Obama and doubt I will but here is what I sent him on his website:
 
OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES ..
Mr.Obama, have chosen to remain news-free today until about ten minutes ago. In that ten minutes I realized on the CNN reporting that the terrorists cancer called ISIL is a lava flow that is moving from Japan to Venezuela, many nations in the Middle East with the diplomatic corps folks being targeted. So given that, Sir, I pose this question to you .. as the Commander-in-Chief of my nation, how in your six years have you al
lowed such alarming threats throughout the world? We see you playing a dangerous game of blackjack with Iran, the key enemy in the Middle East as we watched you cow tow to the Middle Eastern kings now supporting ISIL at the beginning of your tenure. We see Russia reconstructing the Mother Russia and it seems Mr Putin is unharmed in his quest so how would you respond to that as well, Sir? This is not a political nor a racist set of questions, Sir but questions posed by an American citizen that no longer believes you know what you are doing. I believe you have surrounded yourself with people that are either immature, stupid or sinister telling you everything is good. The political conundrum in Washington, Mr. President, is yours to sort out as well for you are the CEO of this once great nation. Oh, and you have singlehandedly broken intimate relations with Israel. So, just asking, is all of this part of a master plan or it is the result of poor leadership, poor intelligence or what, Sir?
 
It is my belief that Americans, on a scale I have not witnessed in my time as an adult, are more concerned and fearful of the direction of our nation than ever before.  We are in a place where the poison of racism is chewing away the fabric of dialog thus no objective conversation can be had. We, therefore, are in a general state of our uniformed police being viewed and treated not as protectors of the public but as Gestapo that are only out to see how many nonwhite people they can destroy today; how sick is that?  I see poll numbers from CNN and WSJ and others that clearly indicates that the American people do not believe Obama is leading well, that America is moving in a bad direction, that Obama has kindled more of the fires of racism during this time as POTUS than any president in history. These statements are not mine even though I concur but rather by professionally conducted polling.  But polls usually mean little to me please know. But what I see, hear and seek to understand coming out of Washington at both ends of Pennsylvania is troubling beyond what I have ever see. Core to that concern is this strange game being played with Iran.
 
During my lifetime Iran has proven over and over again they are a nation no other nation can trust and America certainly has been stained with Iranian manipulation more than most yet here is America under Obama and Kerry dilly dallying with an empire of deceit, wrong and aspiring hegemony in the region and probably more and them getting nuclear capability certainly advances that aim.  Perhaps I am wrong and please know I hope I am but all evidence to the contrary, I simply do not understand what Obama is trying to do.
 
I fight everyday, EVERYDAY, to believe the best from him and his leadership for our nation but seemingly everyday, EVERYDAY, there is more evidence causing me to believe that he is not willing to call a spade a spade meaning that it is in fact Islam that we are at war with and ISIL and the other affiliate linkages comprising a powerful, potent and deadly killing machine to accomplish strategic goals.  All of this in a cacophony of dissent and warning from intelligence experts, Congress, media around the world so the evidence, for me at least, indicates Obama via Kerry are playing their own very deadly, dastardly diplomatic game with the lives of my grandchildren and our American way of life in general.
 
As I indicated in my letter to him, this is not political nor racist when I state that I simply do not trust nor believe in this man's leadership, his aims, his aspirations.  I think an icon of this swamp I believe he has not created but has exacerbated and fueled was just before going to bed last night watching about five minutes of another, ANOTHER, CNN panel facilitated by Don Lemmon, trying to discuss among a group of about six or eight the whole Michael Brown issue and sadly funny but telling, nobody could even finish a thought or express a clear opinion without being loudly interrupted and challenged. In that five minutes I saw the torn cloth of America, the America I love, served, live and want to have again in a new darkened hue. But that America has been ripped from us and we have a now new whole generation that will never know America as the great protector, career potential nation I have seen in my nearly seven decades.
 
How would I describe me as an American today? Disappointed.  Fed up.  Hurt to see such a great place turned so mean and sour toward each other.  A concerned citizen that simply cannot get my mind around what this POTUS is doing.  Totally frustrated with this thing called Congress and its gridlock and ineptitude. A man that is blessed to have been in a nation for a life and a career but have thunderclouds of concern about what happens to my family in the days ahead.  A leadership watcher that has determined the nation's leaders has taken and allowed our nation to move into the back alleys of hate and despair.  A case study in not listening to what We the People are saying at the ballot box but instead going down a dangerous path most of us do not understand.  Knowing from my years of reading and research that God's chosen people, the Jews, and their nation Israel, must be supported and protected but seeing this POTUS unilaterally severing ties and pulling back support for Israel. There will be a very heavy price to pay for this I believe.  FYI  I fully believe Israel must and will take the offensive against Iran for it is their national survival that is at stake. So we will then get to see just where America stands with Israel and right now I believe we will do what we have been doing with ISIL, VA, IRS, Benghazi, ObamaCare, etc, etc which is fundamentally nothing. 
 
You either lead, follow or get out of the way the old adage goes. Sadly, I believe our nation, my nation's leadership style is to get out of the way. Another adage I like is that if you are going to run with the big dogs you have to get off the front porch;  I believe Obama enjoys the porch as a platform to pontificate but not articulate truthfully with the American people.  There is the stench of sinister actions and activities emanating through all of this in our nation which I want to not smell or even contemplate but seemingly not attacking the forces of evil and aligning and playing footsie with those dark forces at the expense of nations, Israel, we are committed to defend and protect is frankly frightening.  Many write and say that do not know how America can stand another two years under this President.  I will close by stating that I want my President to lead and be successful. I see no evidence that those diamonds will be his legacy and worse, our nation will be viewed as a second tier nation as China ascends the podium of leadership for the global village.

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Marking the Pathway Forward Viewing through the Rearview

Birthdays seem to come quicker yet are more profound I believe when it is in our close family.  This is my precious daughter's birthday and we have already spoken via phone. I love my daughter so very much for in so many ways, she is me in personality, drive, energy and love of life and people. 
 
But on this auspicious day for our family and now having did my morning ritual of reading several global news media, the big news is the Prime Ministry election in Israel it seems. But I know residing behind all the hype of that crucial election resides so much pain and wrong. Example; I checked the obituary section online of my hometown newspaper, Gadsden, AL, and found several major crimes committed there just yesterday which include murders, robberies, assaults and realized all over again that no community is immune it seems.  So getting a renewed taste of the bad of man against the backdrop of the elections in Israel adding in a pinch of Russian aggression and a slight touch of oil prices at historic lows yet gasoline prices spiking upward again and the hate being leveled at police in this nation and a POTUS that, well, there are no words to describe my concern and frustration with this Administration, I go back to what my wife and I have been doing over the last several months daily. We have been reading the Bible through by reading three or four chapters that began with Genesis 1:1 and are about to begin the Book of Mark. An amazing journey I will add.
 
Remember the words, there is nothing new under the sun? That is because there is nothing new under the sun. The events we see blasted at us via Internet or cable seem unique but when put in the context of what the Old Testament lays out for you in extreme detail as it opens the door to the coming of Christ and His ministry, you are taken aback with the interconnectivity of it all. Seeing God dealing with His chosen people, the Jews, is very relevant today up to and including the Prime Minister elections.  Knowing Iran, slash Persia, is on record as wanting to see Israel removed from the world map, you are taken back to the Bible for every king, it seems, had that same intent but God protected His people is various, unique ways while at different times punishing them harshly for disobedience; rightly!
 
So how are we any different today I find myself thinking often and the answer is, we are not different today.  Israel is a truly amazing anomaly in our century but then they have been for every century when using the Bible as your history tutorial. I have known many Jews from many nationalities and they are a very unique people.  I believe they enjoy that uniqueness to the point of drawing negative ire and disdain from some corners but the number of rulers that have sought utter annihilation of the race is simply astounding to me.
 
Why am I focusing my words today, this special day in my family, on Israel?  Simply, it is because I realize all over again that the future of the Middle East and thus the world is tethered to this tiny sliver of land called Israel that is the same age as I for it was born in 1948 as I. So sixty seven years of existence against the span of thousands of years of holocaust, final solutions, constant terror attacks has honed Israel into a lean, mean fighting machine and I know they have little compunction in deciding to use their vast nuclear capability probably on Iran. See, I believe the future of our world will be set with Israel's actions toward Iran that Iran will incite and to realize America is playing footsie with Iran is a very serious, dangerous and intriguing calculus none of us understand. But then we can say that about many initiatives by the Obama group can't we?
 
Our pathway as a society in our global village is growing more disparate, more diverse, more dangerous and there are far too many fuses burning toward powder kegs of destruction.  I believe far too many are not reading the events of the past through the rear view of history to best determine pathways ahead. I further believe this thing called ISIL, another anomaly, is iconoclastic of the failures of diplomats, especially the UK after World War I, in how geography, topography and culture were wrongly drawn thus creating these warring nations along boundaries versus  joining the ethnic groups more closely aligned with each. So when we hear about Sunni and Shia, this is a direct result military of the map drawing by the UK in the early twentieth century.  The unbelievable blood spilling that goes on every since seems senseless for it is senseless but very real.
 
Our way forward as a society and global people has been tethered to the leadership of the United States since World War II.  But that tethering has been worn thin and cast aside primarily through events and actions by the United States at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. So America and Israel are bound together by the pages of the Bible but there seems to be those now in power that have chosen to cast all that aside for some strange, questionable and I believe sinister motives. The world's very human existence is hanging in the balance I believe.  So where does Israel now go with the PM remaining in power but with a very broken government and not trust in or with Washington?  Israel has God at their back. Do we?

Saturday, March 14, 2015

The Era of Lost Stability

Those that know me well know I am the perpetual optimist. I love to encourage people especially when they are going through a tough patch emotionally, physically, financially, relationally for I believe that is a major role for those claiming Christ as our Lord and Savior.  I seek ways to lift people when I have even a slight sense that they are down or hurting for I know very well what it feels like to be down and hurting.  As I step back from the fray of global chaos we see projected not only daily now but hourly, it is so easy to allow the crash of the unending events, most of which we do not understand, engulf us in a sea of angst, fear, worry leading some to go down a pathway to believe everything is a conspiracy or a plot.  When reaching that state, the quality of one's greatest gift, their life, feels untethered or paranoia begins to flow toward the surface.
 
My wife loves to pose the simple question to me about my unending seeking to stay abreast of world events, my blog such as this, comments on FB about events and issues with the question being: there is nothing you can do about it so why spend time reading and writing so much about it?  Usually that question is not met with a wide grin as I ponder the merits of the question for part of the fuel is this incessant need to understand why things are as they are linked with the driving question, how can we make the current state of matters better? So, therefore, my brain rarely seeks out the butterflies of life in la la land but rather take a serious, intense view of what I see reported trying to factor out the hype and editorial bias.  It really both sad and disappointing in reading many news media sources at the blatant bias readers are exposed to by the editors.  Right here in my local area the Canton Repository and the Akron Beacon Journal, two towns separated by ten miles, reporting on the same issues, will take a diametrically different slant in the summation of the reporting.  When you stop and realize that news is the first blush of history, one can see the powerful influence of media in this nation and thus media must carry a great weight of blame for creating this frenzy that takes far too many down the shady side of our world for that is what sells; sick but true.
 
I do believe not only as a nation but as a global village we are on the water's edge of a sense of lost stability in our institutions, our political leadership, our societal mores; we are becoming a cynical people and that is very sad. I can see it and sense it in my own processing center and I do not like what I see in the mirror of my internal workings.  I want to believe in my POTUS. I want to bask in my nation's status and stature in the world by the world. I want to believe people are honest. I want to believe the words I see and hear. I want life for my grandchildren to be bright and opportunistic as their lives unfolding. I want a sense of calm stability. And so you can know, I think my wants are perfectly with the realm of reason and worthy of seeking and believing possible, right?
 
But what do we see?  Blatant hate because you wear a uniform, everything is common denominated to race, politicians lie, cheat, accomplish nothing, spend tax money in unexplainable ways and want more and more to fuel the engines of poor governance. Our confidence in our elected leadership is nearing zero and for very good reason.  The cynicism at the White House has fueled much of this for the heavy handed approach to governing funded via unimaginable debt is absolutely justified.  America's global status has meandered to a global stain for we as a nation are no longer revered or feared and fear is a great thing to lose but it has been lost by misuse of consequence for red lines of mist instead of steel and lead.  Practically nobody believes anything from our POTUS and I fall clearly into that category.  I fight daily to push back from the pathway of believing there is a finite agenda to socialize America via destruction or deconstructing of the institutions that have formed the landscape for our nation's stature since our nation's birth and honed via blood in world wars.  We as a nation have lost confidence in our leaders for we have lost confidence in ourselves as a nation.
 
As a nation we do not have strong faith in anything when you assess our world, do we? But let me insert a major point here if I may.  Center and central to this chaos is a God that loves us as a people for it is He that created us.  God has to be so disappointed to see His creation squander the joy of His most precious gift to each of us which is the gift of life. Working in jail ministry and around thousands of jailed felons each year, you begin to realize that that level of exposure and interaction provides a rich yet dismal insight into the demise of our culture. Men and women with families housed in cages for making conscience choices to hurt and manipulate others is inexcusable and worthy of consequence. But I believe more than ever it is society that has failed these wards of the state for there is the obvious sense among the masses of inmates that life has passed them by, there is no hope and worse than all of that, nobody really cares about them or their lives. How very sad but so very true!
 
In closing, we ARE a blessed people whether we choose to realize that or accept that. So my words are intended as another dose of encouragement in this tsunami of bad, jaded, juxtapositioned forces where nobody believes anybody be they named Obama, Clinton, Bush or now even Santa Claus for the distrust and disdain has devolved to systemic instability. Nothing seems sacred or stable and with that is ushered into our world and culture doubts about anything and anyone in leadership. That moves into the realm of paranoia. I choose as a man, as a husband and father and grandfather but even more profound than those blessings, as a Christian, to believe in the stability that only God can provide and thus I choose to believe His Word I read daily again in seeking to understand more clearly why things happen as they do.
 
I hope my words this still dark Saturday morning with much snow still coating the ground leave you with a profound sense of hope for we must first believe in our own hearts we can make this better. Why? We must.

Friday, March 6, 2015

Divorcing Israel

As the world has watched the unfolding of events leading to the Israeli Prime Minister addressing the US Congress earlier this week, many have polarized into varying categories of pro versus con and usually along partisan lines; certainly no surprise.  I watched the PM speech which was compelling, potent and I felt was very clear in making the case from the Israeli perspective why any and all actions needed to cease Iran's nuclearization had to be stopped with or without the US or the Europeans. I was especially impressed with his delivery and connectivity to his audience.  Much has been made, rightly so, about our President and the continuing distancing and dance he appears to be playing with Israel and the Jewish people. So  whether if you like Obama or not via my words this morning, it really does not matter to me for this reason...
 
My wife and I each morning have been on a journey to read the Bible beginning with Genesis 1:1 and have completed the Old Testament Wednesday morning. So the words from the Scriptures are still very fresh to me as we have trod this OT pathway leading to the coming of Christ which is prophesied so much and so many times in the OT as we are now into the Book of Matthew in the New Testament.  Inherent in the OT readings and discussions as viewed in the light of the current events outlined in the opening paragraph above, distancing or seeking to inflict hurt on Israel is a dangerous, deadly venture which I believe this President has chosen to play thus dragging our entire nation closer to the consequences of unfriending Israel.  Nation after nation stands boldly now, except America, proclaiming Iran, the former Persia, as the great Satan of the Middle East and is the epicenter of terrorist funding, training and strategic utilization of these vipers of death and destruction.  Yet, America via this President has chosen a path that pits an American / Iranian alliance against Israel on this prolific issue of nuclearization. I find that of  great interest in light of Obama's continuing refusal to call these radicals of Islam what they are and attack the culprits with full force to annihilate the threat to the US and to the world.
 
Almost daily as I watch this unfold I continue to want so badly to embrace this Administration, to see good flowing from it and to hear the poisonous rhetoric aimed at Obama turned to words of pride and praise by the population. But almost daily it honestly seems like he gets up each morning with a new plan to further wedge America against the rest of the world via more doubts about himself, his loyalties and his aims for this country; the country the world turned to for help, direction, protection and support up until roughly 2008. To call this a murderous set of events and appearances is a gross understatement. I have chosen to not engage the age old birth certificate witch hunt for I believe, for I want to believe, a man of Obama's stature made it to the top as the Constitution dictates.  But actions do speak much louder than words and with each speech, each appearance and this latest childish rejection of the Israeli PM only adds to my concern about the man, Obama, and his real aims and ambitions. I realize after six years, I simply do not trust his motives and that says a great deal for me to put those words together for I want so badly to be proud of my president and my nation; so very badly!
 
But for me due to the reading of the Old Testament from page one you see very clearly that many nations and peoples have  sought to eradicate the Jewish people long before the Holocaust in the 20th century and Iran is very public with their desire to eliminate Israel from the map and thus its people; a people and a nation America has sworn to defend since my birth year of 1948.  Yet now this president has positioned and postured America to be siding with the Persian empire and its vile leadership against protecting Israel. Every time a nation in the OT has challenged Israel and taken steps to eliminate the nation, calamity of epic proportion has ensued and I believe that same ensuance will show itself toward the US if this pathway is continued which Obama, Kerry and many of the Democrats are choosing to make a reality it seems to me.
 
On this issue, there are many things, but one thing about the Bible and thus God's promise and assurance, HE WILL PROTECT HIS PEOPLE which is Israel and the Jewish people. Never would I have imagined I would have seen an American president guide this nation into such dire straits with Israel while seemingly quasi embracing, certainly not attacking, the enemies of Israel in the form of Iran, ISIL, AQAP and the other beehive of terrorists in Islam. Are we at war with Islam is a commonly asked question? It seems to me that Islam has declared war on America but we are choosing to parse instead of defend. Please know that I hope so badly that I am wrong on all of this stacking up evidence but daily the evidence is becoming more and more compelling.  The world needs America to be the big, strong, no nonsense force in the world but our national leadership in a troubled world has waned and weakening on this President's watch which means, to me, a cunning, strategic plan is being unfurled in many varied yet lethal at the aggregate actions or inactions.
 
Here is all I know, America cannot and must not turn our back on Israel in its mandate to stand against the forces of Iran, aka Persia, for the entire world is put at threat should Iran become a nuclear force and I have no doubt that if what I am seeing from Obama, Kerry, etc, that is precisely what will come to reality sooner than later. God is unequivocal in His position about protecting His people, Israel.  We are talking about the final pieces of the end of this earth coming together oh so quickly and Iran will play a part in those final steps I believe.  The EU nations reforming into the ten nation confederacy of the old Holy Roman Empire is part of that architecture of the End Times so am watching daily to see how the EU borders as we know them will be melting away and melting they will; watch it!
 
These are very interesting and yes, epically dangerous times. This whole ISIL view is amazing to me strategically to see how such a supposed rag tag bunch, gang of gangs, has stymied the world. Why  is that; because the beat cop of the world, America, has remained insolent and impotent via this lack of leadership by the Commander-in-Chief through divisional partisan politics.  I do not want to believe our nation, America, is under threat of a strategic and moral paradigm shift away from the very principles that made us great but again, evidence speaks loudly does it not?
 
The world needs America strong, vibrant, vigilant and yet aggressive when needed.  I think the world no longer sees America through that lens so the Putins and Persians of the world, now Venezuela for example, are flexing their muscle from the base of why not, nobody is there for us to fear. And did I forget North Korea in my short list!